May Belle On Watership Down
by Journalist793
Summary: May Belle and Fiver only have one thing in common: Their 6th sense. But this can lead to a lifetime of possibilities, and when they meet for the very first time at the foot of Watership Down, a legendary friendship is formed. My first WSD story!Please R
1. Chapter 1

Thunder boomed overhead, and Frith shook the sky, releasing a downpour of rain. All sensible creatures were inside their cozy little homes and burrows, except for one.

With her ankle in pain and her vision blurred, May Belle trudged through the mud, her knapsack getting heavier with each step. Her red hair whipped in her face as the wind tossed about, and her yellow summer's dress was in tatters.

May Belle was frightened, and only followed that sense that always warned her when something bad was about to happen. It had warned her when the crop field was about to flood, and when her mother would catch pneumonia. It told her things she did not want to hear all the time. It had even told her that her mother would not get better. And, like always, it had been right.

Now her sense was telling her to keep moving. It said that she was going to a high, lonely place on a hill where ones who understood her would welcome her.

It had been long since when May Belle had consumed her final morsel of bread and drop of water. Her head was light, and her vision was tinged with yellow. She seemed to be floating. Each step she took, her vision grew more and more foggy until she could no longer see. May Belle stopped, hoping for her vision to be restored, but her head was just as cloudy as her vision, and with a crack of thunder, May Belle had passed out.

Fiver started up in his burrow, shivering. Had it been the crack out lightning that woke him up? Every now and then a raindrop would fall down the hole and soak into his face, but why were they so warm? Fiver realized that they were not raindrops at all, but his own tears.

His dream. What had he just dreamed about? Something was out there. Something pitiful. He wanted to go help, but did not know what to do at all. Should he wake Hazel? Or should he just wake the whole warren.

He looked back at his mate who slept peacefully. Maybe his senses had been wrong. Maybe there was nothing out there.

Shivering, he stared up the whole, imagining what could be out there. With his eyes wide and bright, and his heart pounding in his chest, the small rabbit went tharn. And that was the way that his mate found him when she awoke the next morning.

"Fiver?" asked Vilthuril, worried that her mate would not respond. "Fiver, please, wake up! You're scaring me!"

Fiver shivered. "Vilthuril, I haven't slept for the longest time," he whispered, his eared twitching. "I had the most awful dream."

Vilthuril had seen Fiver do this before, but never to this extent. "What did you see?"

"I'm not quite sure," responded Fiver, his nose twitching as if he smelled Flayrah. "But something is coming. Soon."

"Should we stay inside?" asked Vilthuril, ignoring her hunger.

Fiver shook his head. "No, no. It's safe enough now." He still shivered, though, trying to be calm for the doe's sake.

The wind was blowing to the north, bringing a faint scent of scent Nuthanger Farm.

Fiver nibbled on the grass distractedly, trying to remember what his dream had met. Hazel noticed that his brother looked troubled.

"Fiver, you look sick," he said, edging him to the edge of the field. "Are you quite alright?"

Fiver shook his head. "Something strange about the warren this evening," he commented, looking north, straining to see.

"That was what you said back at Sandleford lot," chuckled Hazel-rah. Then his face darkened. "You're not saying we ought to move, are you?"

"No, no," said Fiver, shaking his head. "It's just something… strange. Something is coming."

As if on cue, the wind shifted south. A scent from the opposite direction was carried. Bigwig was the first to pick it up. He raised his nose to the air and sniffed. Then sniffed again. He took a deep breath and nudged Dandelion, who was nosing in the grass next to him. "Say, you don't smell anything odd, do you?"

Dandelion, curious about what Bigwig meant, sniffed the air too. He had the same reaction. "You don't suppose that's the scent of…" he trailed off.

"Man?" supplied Bigwig. Silently, they made an agreement. "Everyone to their burrows!" exclaimed Bigwig.

Hazel-rah turned, startled by Bigwigs outburst. "What do you mean, Bigwig?" asked Hazel as other rabbits skidded past him for their burrows. When the captain of the Owsla made an order, it's only right to follow it.

"There's a man nearby," said Bigwig, shifting his weight on his haunches. Hazel-rah stiffened. "You can smell it in the wind," continued Bigwig.

Fiver sniffed the air immediately. He froze.

"Get underground," ordered Hazel, who was already halfway there.

"That's it," murmured Fiver.

Hazel skidded to a stop. "What," he asked Fiver, but Fiver did not hear. He made a dash for the north side of Watership Down.

"Fiver, no!" shouted Bigwig, dashing after him. "You stupid runt!"

Fiver went down out of Hazel's sight. With a split second decision, Hazel ran down the hill, worrying only about his brother. "Fiver!"

Fiver and Bigwig were tharn, staring down in the grass. Hazel paused. "What is it?" asked Hazel.

Bigwig grunted. "Is it dead?" he managed.

Hazel trudged forward, and saw what they were looking at. It was a human, in the grass. It was pale and thin, with a ripped yellow dress and matted red hair. There was a knapsack next to it splattered with mud.

Fiver went for its hand and propped his paw up on its wrist. "Almost," he said. "A slow pulse, though."

"We might as well leave it for the elil," suggested Bigwig. "It's miracle that they haven't gotten to it yet."

Fiver's ears pricked up. "No!" he said quickly. "No, we mustn't!"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Bigwig.

"We need to help it," he said. "It's what I saw."

Hazel was caught in between his head of Owsla and his brother; he didn't know what to say as the leader. He waited a few moments, thinking hard. "Fiver," he said weakly after a long time. "This is a human. Humans turn rabbits into hats. Are you sure we should be helping it?"

Fiver nodded. "Oh, yes! We must!" Fiver was hopping in circles. "Please, Hazel. Believe me!"

Hazel teetered on the edge for a moment more, and then he choose a side. "Bigwig," he said. "Go get as many rabbits as you can. Make sure Hyzenthlay comes, she could be useful in this."

Bigwig's jaw tighten, but he didn't protest. "Fine," he growled, and ran to the burrow.

"How are we going to help it?" asked Hazel.

"I… I don't know," admitted Fiver.

Blackberry and Hyzenthlay came over the hill. They froze. Hyzenthlay gasped and froze in her spot.

"Hyzenthlay?" asked Hazel. "What's that about? We need your help."

"Did you try water?" asked Blackberry, approaching.

"What would water do?" asked Fiver, looking down at a puddle.

"It could help bring the thing to its senses," said Blackberry. He got behind the puddle and splashed with his paw. It hit the girl's face. The girl moaned, but didn't wake.

"Try it again," said Fiver. "I think it's working." And so did Blackberry.

The girl's eyelids fluttered open and she stared up at the sky. All of the rabbits started, and Blackberry bolted back a few paces.

The girl sat up and looked down at the rabbits. She and Fiver stared at each other intently.

"Fiver," warned Hazel. "Give yourself distance."

Fiver only inched closer to the girl. "No, Hazel," he said. "I think she's safe."

The girl gasped. "Were you just talkin'?" she asked Fiver.

"By Frith!" said Blackberry. "She can hear us!"

The girl didn't look up at Blackberry. She just kept staring at Fiver.

"No," said Hazel, mystified by what he had just realized. "She can hear Fiver."

There was nothing but the buzz of silence that followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX This is my first Watership Down story! How'd I do? The more reviews I get the sooner I will update! :D Please, I worked very long and hard on this, so I hope you liked it. I will continue! All I need is a few reviews to get me going. Anyway, thanks for reading! I really appreciate it!


	2. Chapter 2

Fiver shivered, standing in front of the girl, staring up at her with wide eyes. Had she heard him? Was that possible? His ears twitched nervously.

Hazel and Blackberry were silent. Hyzenthlay, who was up ahead, breathed heavily. Fiver got up on his haunches and sniffed the air. "Can you hear me?" he asked. His tail fluttered from side to side, which was Fiver's habit to do so when he was perplexed.

The girl put her hands on her forehead. "Oi," she said. "I'm going crazy. There are rabbits talking to me."

"No, no," said Fiver, hopping by her feet to be in her line of vision. "No, really, you're not."

"Then explain to me why I'm having a debate with a rabbit over whether I'm talking to it or not. You're not real."

"I'm as real as the day is long," insisted Fiver, setting a single paw on the girl's shoe.

Hazel cleared his throat. "Fiver," he muttered. "Please, have some sense!"

Fiver looked at Hazel, trying to show him that he knew what he was doing. Then he looked back at the girl and spoke to her as if she were a frightened kitten. "What's your name?" His eyes shone brightly in the light of ni-Frith.

The girl looked down for just a few moments. "May Belle," she said, her lower lip quivering. "And, please," she added."Call me nothing other than that. I don't like to be called May. A three-letter name? Ha! Not in this lifetime."

Fiver's nose twitched. "It's an honor to make your acquaintance, May Belle. And I really do mean that." He paused for a moment, and then said, "You _are_ the first human that I've talked to, really."

May Belle laughed with such a laugher that birds near and far would envy. It was a beautiful laughter to Fiver's ears.

"I could say the same to you, little rabbit," she said. "I've never talked to an animal of any sort, silly as that may sound." May Belle shook her head. She tucked her legs underneath her so that her foot slipped out from beneath Fiver's paw and she could get a better view of the small creature. "What's your name?" she asked, and then hesitated. "Or do rabbits not have names?"

"Oh, no. We have names! I'm Fiver." Fiver bowed the way he had seen other gentlemen do for ladies, but found he was not very good at it and did an involuntary somersault.

May Belle giggled again and caught just as his back was about to hit the ground.

Hazel stiffened. He didn't even like the fact that his brother was _near_ this human, but for the human to be touching him? _Holding_ him? That was out of the question. He bounded to where Fiver was being held and, standing up on his haunches, grabbed Fiver by his scruff and dragged him down.

Fiver struggled as Hazel dragged him back. "No, Hazel, let me go!"

Hazel tried to say something, but failed to do so at the same time as dragging Fiver.

"What?" asked Fiver, turning his head to try to give Hazel an odd look.

Hazel set Fiver down. "I said, 'Have you no sense?' Fiver, humans shoot rabbits without a second thought. They eat us and then lick their fingers. It's only sensible to avoid them at all costs."

"Just a few minutes ago you were helping me to save this one's life!" exclaimed Fiver, rubbing the back of his neck.

Hazel paused. Fiver did have a good point. "Just be careful," he finally said. "I don't trust her, and I don't think that I'm going to trust her anytime soon. "

Fiver didn't say anything. He blinked a few times, trying not to show signs of weakness.

May Belle sat there on the ground, watching Fiver have a conversation with a larger rabbit. She wished that she could hear them all so that she could understand what was going on.

The large rabbit, apparently named Hazel, made some rabbit noises that May Belle could not classify in his throat and made head movements like he was scolding someone. Then his eyes softened and he seemed to whisper the rest.

Unsatisfied, Fiver looked at the ground. "Fine," he muttered, and turned cheek. He took one, two, three hops towards May Belle. Stopping at 5 inches away, he looked up at her.

May Belle bit her lip and brought forward her knees to hug them. Suddenly, her vision grew dim, but from what was left of it she could see Fiver's expression turn as blank as she expected hers to be. Then she saw something that she did not want to see. There was a fox, scrawny and angry, racing forward. In front of it lay the very hill she sat on. It paused only slightly to lick it's lips hungrily, and ran forward again, the hill not 500 feet away. Then her vision cleared and she collapsed.

She was still for only a second before she opened her eyes. Fiver was hunched over on his paws, trembling, breathing heavily.

Hazel stared. It looked as if an electric shock had passed between the two, but he knew what had happened with Fiver. "What did you see?" he asked, closing in space on his brother. He supported Fiver so that he would not fall.

"A Homba," gasped Fiver. "It's coming for the hill."

May Belle shivered. "I saw a fox," she said.

They all looked at her, but decided that they had no time to translate man talk into Lapine.

"Come on," said Hazel. "Back to the burrow! And hurry!"

All of the rabbits turned and ran, leaving a confused May Belle behind. Fiver stopped at the top of the hill, dazed. "What about May Belle?" he asked quickly.

"She'll have to fair out as best she can," said Blackberry. "Unless she can shrink down to the size of a burrow."

"That's not good enough," protested Fiver, and again he turned and ran to May Belle just as Hazel dashed down his burrow.

"Come," he told her, lightly taking the hem of May Belle's dress into his mouth and tugging her towards the hill.

May Belle stood, hoping she could climb the tall tree that stood atop the hill, but quickly found herself a problem.

Putting weight on her ankle, May Belle collapsed with a squeal of pain.

Fiver turned to her with large, worried eyes. "May Belle, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

May Belle looked at Fiver, trying to contain her pain. "No, no. I'm fine. I twisted my ankle on the way here. I was just shocked by the pain, that's all. I can make it."

Fiver hopped back and forth, worried sick. "Come on, we've got to get back before—"

But Fiver was interrupted by a hair-raising, vicious "_GROWL!!!_"

May Belle rose her eyes to the top of the hill, where sat the fox of her premonition. It frothed at the mouth, baring its cracked, yellow teeth.

Fiver stood on his haunches and spread his ears, trying to make himself look bigger and more threatening. No point in trying to hide or run, he reasoned. This thing had already seen him and could easily outrun him any day. "May Belle, don't worry. I'll get you out of this." Fiver intended to keep that promise, although he had no idea how he would.

May Belle slowly stood, wincing at the pain. "No, Fiver. At least I'm taller than it. You're barely a foot high!"

Fiver's eyes shone. His tail fluttered from side to side again.

The fox jumped in the air and charged for the meal. It was a pretty easy decision on whether to take out a ten-inch rabbit or a six-foot girl first. It landed at May Belle's feet and tried to stand up on its hind legs and tear at May Belle's throat, but she stepped back and down fell the fox.

Fiver jumped forward with his little claws out, trying to rip at the fox, but his small teeth and claws were barely enough to keep him clinging to the fur.

Growling, the fox swatted Fiver away and decided to go for the easy meal rather than the large one. It approached Fiver slowly, glistening saliva dripping from its lips like the blood of a fresh kill. "Meal time," it growled, which was only understandable to Fiver.

With out thinking, May Belle blocked out the pain of her ankle and threw herself at the fox, knocking the unprepared animal on its side. To Fiver's sensible ears, there was a crack of bone, which sent him shivering. _Frith, please,_ he begged. _Let May Belle be unbroken._

The fox gashed at May Belle's side as it struggled to free itself. May Belle kicked at the fox's ribs and heard the crack of bones for the second time. With a defeated yelp, it rose to its feet and limped away, knowing it would not last through the night.

"May Belle!" cried out Fiver, dashing to her side. Blood was leaking from May Belle's flesh, staining the yellow dress, but May Belle was breathing… slowly.

"Fiver!" called Hazel, looking everywhere. After searching through both the honeycomb and Fiver's burrow, Hazel had realized with a sickening feeling in his stomach that Fiver must still be out there. He trembled dashing over the hill, afraid of what he might see. He was shocked beyond words.

There was May Belle, bleeding and half-conscious, halfway down the hill. And than there was Fiver, completely fine, huddled by her side, licking at May Belle's wound.

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**Wow this was so much fine to write. It was dramatic and emotional… it's hard being an author. It makes you wanna cry for your characters. Anyway… thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sometimes even a review can inspire you to write. I hope that you liked it and that you'll keep reading! :D Oh, and I know that there are still some unanswered questions out there, and don't worry… There's still plenty to be answered in the next chapter.**

**P.S. I have decided that I will be updating this story every other day, unless I either die, get grounded, or have writers block.**


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Hazel-rah called a meeting to discuss this episode occurring on Watership Down. He had said that anyone who wished to watch could drop in, but mainly it was the Owsla that was needed. It was a larger outcome than Hazel had expected. The honeycomb was packed as people pushed against each other, trying to see. There was a space in the center of the floor open for the speaker to be able to address everyone, but that was a tiny island caught in a sea of fur. The news of May Belle had traveled fast.

Fiver had not been anxious to come. He had reasoned that if some other elil came by while May Belle was outside and wounded, she would not be safe. Hazel had argued, but in the end, Kehaar had settled the argument by offering to keep watch and all but pushing Fiver into the burrow.

So now, here they all sat, looking at one another, the room buzzing with whispers. Hazel stood on his haunches to look taller and mightier, and then cleared his throat. A wave of silence took tide over the room.

Hazel got right to the point. "We have gathered here to discuss the latest… surprise that has fallen into our lives." When nobody said anything, he continued. "Now, I am well aware of the impact that humans have on rabbits."

A few rabbits, mainly the survivors of Sandleford lot, mumbled to each other in agreement. Fiver sat there, stony, only his nose twitching.

Hazel shushed the group. He choose his words carefully "But then, we have this unexpected matter of… well, her having an unusual tongue for…" Hazel stopped. He was about to say "Lapine" but realized that this would be wrong. "I'm not exactly sure what it is."

Fiver stood now, his eyes so bright that they demanded Hazel's attention. "It's not that she can speak our language," he said. "It's just that she can… well, hear me."

A flitter of whispers broke out. "Is that possible?" asked Bigwig, his voice rising above all others.

Hazel shook his head. "No, I don't think that it is. I can't think of a single reasonable explanation."

Now everyone was offering their explanations. Most of them were absolutely ridiculous ("She's an alien," one had shouted)., but out of the corner of his eye, Hazel caught a glimpse of Dandelion. He had a faraway look, but he seemed to be deciding whether or not to say something. "Dandelion?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

"Well," Dandelion seemed timid. "There's this old story that I once heard as a kitten. El-ahrairah and the rabbits' hearing."

"The rabbits' hearing? What does that have to do with anything?" Bigwig was getting impatient by how slow that this meeting was moving. What he wanted was permission to run the human out of the down. If he could help it, then he would make sure it happened.

"Well, back when Frith made the world, he made all of the animals the same. He gave them the same hearing and the same language to speak. Because of this, Frith didn't feel it was necessary to give rabbits the excellent hearing that we have today. He just gave us the large ears we have to amuse him. This was all dandy until he began giving out his gifts. He had planned to grant El-ahrairah with the gift of hearing, but he grew frustrated when the rabbit refused to come out of his hole. So he blessed him with the strong haunches that allow us to run." Dandelion paused and looked around, daring the listeners to interrupt.

When he was satisfied that everyone was listening, Dandelion continued. "El-ahrairah and all of his children agreed that this was a fine gift, but they often complained about their inconvenient ears. The extensions made it all the more difficult to camouflage, and slowed you down as you ran. If you fell into a river, swimming back was such a task because your ears would drag you down. They came to envy the proportional ears of the cat.

"To bring this situation to justice, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle set out to ask Frith for ears of a convenient size. They traveled many days and nights to reach the rising point of the sun. Tired and hurt, they bowed before Frith, and presented their case. 'Great Frith, you have watched over us well, and it is wrong to ask more of you, but we have a problem. Our ears, which have all of the talent of the small-eared cat and no more, are so exceedingly long. It makes for an inconvenience when running, swimming, and even hiding. We implore that you shorten our ears for equality in our journeys.'

"Frith saw this in a light of understanding, but felt that giving El-ahrairah exactly what he asked for would be spoiling him. 'El-ahrairah, Prince with a thousand enemies, I see your problem. I am reluctant to tell you that I shall not be trimming you and your offspring's ears. But I shall make this right.' With that, Frith reached into his bag, searching for the gift of hearing. It was not there. Frith, determined to make this fair, decided that he would take some from another creature and replace it with another gift. But who would he take it from? He looked upon the birds and animals, and could not decide who to deprive of hearing for he loved all of his creatures. Then he noticed a man walking through the area, and had an idea.

"Swiftly, he released half of the man's hearing, which was the half that understood the language of Lapine. Frith replaced this with the cunning cleverness of man to lead them to figure out the things that they have today. As he transferred this hearing to the rabbits, a few drops of it slipped from his fingers, and went running to hide. Even today some of those drops bless creatures at their birth." Dandelion finally stopped again, signaling an end to his story.

Hazel was still. He had not expected such a long story to blossom but there it has. "Are you suggesting that one of these drops blessed May Belle at her birth?"

Dandelion didn't respond for a few moments. "Well, from what I figure from this story is that over the years, these drops have morphed into their very own type of sense."

"You're off your rocker," shouted Silver, raising higher on his haunches.

Dandelion gaze a hard look at Silver. "I'm just a story teller," he said. "And what I'm trying to say is, the way I see it, this sense is, well, something that Frith blesses at chosen beings. May Belle my very well be one of them, but I know one thing for sure…"

"What's that?" asked Pipkin, his ears twitching.

Dandelion rubbed both of his paws over his nose. "Fiver has this blessing."

"He what?" asked Hazel, but he did not need anything repeated. Perhaps this had always been clear to him, but he had just ignored it. Now it all made sense, or at least as much sense as a rabbit can manage to gain in one day.

Fiver did not seem the slightest bit surprised from this. He sat stiffly, every now and then glancing at the hole as if anxious to leave.

Bigwig cleared his throat. "Enough of this talk," he said. "What really matters is one thing. Is the girl going to stay or not?"

Fiver looked at Bigwig with narrowed eyes. "She's staying," he insisted. He looked ready to fight anyone who opposed.

"Fiver," said Hazel sympathetically. "That's not entirely your decision, because we live on Watership Down together."

"No!" Protested Fiver with a start. "But she must stay!"

"Why do you say that, Fiver?" asked Hazel with a reasonably low voice.

Fiver backed down the slightest bit. "I don't know," he said. "But what I do know is that she has to stay. I have the strangest feeling about her, like we have a connection."

"What do you mean?" asked Hazel one of his ears tilting to the side.

"Well, it feels almost as if we were born in the same litter." Fiver cringed at this, because even he sensed how stupid it sounded.

Hazel gave a small chuckle. "Well, we know that isn't the case. After all, I was there when you were born."

Fiver looked up at Hazel with pleading eyes. "Please, Hazel. This is important. Just trust me, as your brother."

Hazel's face soften. "Alright," he said. "She may stay only for the time being, but this matter is not thoroughly discussed. We will look into this further more later." And just like that, the meeting came to a stop.

Fiver relaxed. For now, all was well. His senses were satisfied, for now. May Belle was safe… for now.

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**Okay, I know that this chapter was kinda, er, suckish, but I had to answer those lingering questions someway or another. I promise next chapter will fall back into the bittersweet rhythm. Thanks for reading, and please bare with me. I needed to do this chapter, or else the story could not furthermore unravel. And, I guess that the whole, update every other day thing didn't work. Sorry. School's coming up so it might slow down a little. Okay, thanks for reading! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Bigwig sat in the corner of the honeycomb, watching all of the rabbits leave. Fiver was the first one to bolt up and out of his hole, followed by a few drifters who walked slowly, reflecting what had just happened. Once enough room had been made to weave through the crowd, Bigwig shot across the large room to find Hazel. He was rubbing the fur between his ears as if he had a monstrous headache. "Hazel?" he asked firmly.

Hazel looked at him, blinked a few times, and then straightened. "Yes, Bigwig?" he asked, shivering under Bigwig's intense stare fixed upon him.

"Why in Frith's name did you do that?" asked Bigwig, more annoyed than curious.

Hazel sighed. "Bigwig, really. Fiver's the one who saw the men coming to Sandleford Lot, and many other dangers that we have stumbled into. Why choose now to not trust him?"

Bigwig narrowed his eyes. "You know perfectly well why. Sandleford warren was destroyed by man. You were shot by man. Man sets snares and plots to kill rabbits. Everyday a rabbit stops running because of man! So, _sir_," he spat out the word "sir" so sharply that it stung Hazel like acid. "Please do excuse me if I have no love for those lowlife, devious, scoundrels that call themselves man."

Hazel sat calmly, not showing any signs of hurt. "It's just a man kitten. I think if we wait and see, perhaps we could gain her trust, just as she may gain ours."

"Embleer Frith! Are you blind!" Bigwig was up on his hind legs and shouting loud enough to make all who lingered in the honeycomb cringe and bolt. "She's going to be the death of this warren, Hazel. We can't have a man on the Down!"

"Bigwig," said Hazel, filling his lungs and letting out a deep, tired sigh. "What harm is there in sharing the down, really? She and Fiver seem to have become quite…" he paused, thinking of the right word "… chummy with each other. You know that if she shows any sign of doing anything to harm the Down or us, we'll take action, but for now…" He paused once more, and gave Bigwig an intensified stare. "Please just let things unravel for itself."

"But she's…" Bigwig stopped himself, wanting to argue but knew it was a foolish thing to do. He turned and left angrily, stomping so hard that a bit of dirt crumbled out of the walls.

May Belle sat under the beach tree, tinkering with a twig, wondering what was happening. For the thousandth time, she wished that she could see and hear what was going on beneath her, but knew that even if she could manage to get herself down the rabbits' hole, she'd have no luck understanding anything that was going on.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fiver approach gingerly. His eyes twinkled, and his mouth opened the slightest bit, as if he might say something, but decided against. Instead, he sat down next to May Belle, and together they silently studied the rising stars.

A gust of wind blew down upon the hill, sending a shiver down May Belle's spine.

Fiver looked up, having been quick to notice this. "It gets cold during nights on the Down. Do you have something to keep you warm?"

May Belle was silent a moment, like she was trying to remember something. "Yes," she said finally. She groped at her left, and brought her hand back forward with her knapsack in her grasp. May Belle set it on the ground with a thump, demonstrating just how heavy the bag was.

"What in Frith's name is that?" asked Fiver, hesitantly walking to it and sniffing cautiously.

May Belle, too tired to wonder who Frith was, replied, "It's a knapsack. I carry the essential things that I need in it." She reached her hand in and pulled out a fleece blanket.

Fiver seemed dazed by this. "It's a beast that holds your belongings inside of it. And you can open it enough to retrieve the things that it ate." He did his best to interpret the device enough for comprehension.

May Belle gave a short, tired laugh. "I suppose you could look at it that way, mate."

"Is it safe?" asked Fiver, nervous that perhaps the beast would devour him just as it did to May Belle's items.

"Oh, of course. It's not alive, Fiver. It's a piece of fabric."

Fiver still kept cautious as he ventured closer to the bag, not knowing what fabric was, nor quite believing that the beast was not alive. It did not kick when he batted at it with his paw. It did not stir when he snuffed at it. Finally satisfied, he looked down the open lid to see a cluster of items.

May Belle laughed. "You'd think you were performing surgery."

Fiver ignored this comment; not knowing what surgery was all the same. He crept even more inside, his whiskers telling him to get out of there, but his curiosity overpowered.

May Belle giggled watching Fiver paw around in the bag, but her smile quickly melted away when Fiver came out of the bag holding the last thing she wanted to see. Dangling from the small rabbit's mouth was a thin golden chain, not worth much in value but worth a great deal to May Belle. On the end of the chain hung a charm in the shape of a half-heart with a wavy edge where the other half of the heart should be. It had quickly caught Fiver's eye.

Fiver sensed May Belle's sudden change of mood, and quickly dropped the chain. "May Belle, what's the matter? Did I do something wrong."

May Belle, suddenly sick at heart, brushed away a tear. "No, no, Fiver. It was nothing you've done. It's just the necklace… you couldn't have known."

Fiver looked up at May Belle with an expression so soft that it may very well have been impossible for any other rabbit to manage. "Wh—Why? Why does this necklace bring you to such grief?"

May Belle reached out and stroked Fiver's fur absentmindedly, trying to calm herself. Fiver cringed, all sensible parts of him telling him to snap at her hand and bolt down a hole, but having enough willpower to stay put and wait patiently for May Belle to explain.

Finally, May Belle took a breath and began. "It was my mother's, see. That charm right there, that's a half heart." Her hand flew up to her neck and she pulled an identical golden chain out from beneath the top of her dress. "I have the other half. They snap together to make a whole heart."

She demonstrated by picking up the necklace that rested in front of Fiver and holding together the two charms, making a strange shape that Fiver had never seen before, but he respected the shape. It was so peaceful that it made his heart swell with emotion.

"My mum and I wore them all the time. We promised each other we would," continued May Belle.

"Then why isn't she wearing it now?" asked Fiver, sniffing at the charms.

May Belle faltered, letting the necklaces slip out of her hands. Fiver winced as the one necklace landed in front of him. May Belle brushed a few more tears away and looked into the overhead constellations. "My mum's not around anymore," she whispered. "Not since last month."

Fiver's ears rang with dread. How horrible, to still be in the midst of grieving for a loved one. A few teardrops joined the necklace that lay on the ground.

When Fiver didn't say anything, May Belle continued. "It was pneumonia that took her in the end. What a dreadful disease it was! We couldn't afford medical help for her, because the garden had been destroyed that year. The crops were barely enough to keep us fed."

Fiver shuddered. "I'm sorry, May Belle."

May Belle gave Fiver a soft look. "It's not your fault, Fiver. You have nothing to be sorry about. It's just fate, you see. We go when our time comes and make nothing of it."

Fiver sat silently, listening to the song of the crickets as they sang to the moon. He listened to only that and the sound of May Belle's breathing. Her hand that rest on his back became limp, and when May Belle's breath became deep and even. Once sure that May Belle was asleep, Fiver silently crept away and down the hole of his burrow.

(A/N: Okay, so I just started reading Tales From Watership Down, and guess what I found out! Fiver has a mate named Vilthuril. So from this point on Rosebud has been changed to Vilthuril. I'll go back and edit the first chapter.)

Vilthuril sat on the burrow floor sleeping as Fiver came in. Fiver, tired out of his wits, lay down in the very spot in which he stood and slept uneasily. Something about that necklace, and May Belle's mother's death was bothering him.

In his dream, he was reliving a moment that had happened a week after the defeat of Woundwart and the Effrafens. He saw himself, Hazel and Bigwig's owsla preparing to go on a garden raid. He recounted the dilemma that Nuthanger Farm had an extra guard dog that weekend, because the family was dog-sitting, so they had decided to raid another farm.

They traveled for Hrair hours, searching for flayrah to bring home. Finally, they found what seemed to be an unguarded farm.

Loading up on the carrots and lettuce, it was Hawkbit who first noticed the dog. He had called this to the attention of Dandelion, who passed on the message to Bigwig. The dog had not yet noticed them. It was dozing on the porch.

"We must be quick," said Hazel, uprooting a few carrots, but as they began to drag the flayrah away, Pipkin stumbled on a twig and woke the dog.

It growled at them as they hurried to make a quick break with the food, but once it began barking and running towards the rabbits, they all scattered for their burrows that were not there.

The dog chased them through the crops, uprooting them as he trampled over them. Carrots were broken in half and lettuce heads were smashed, and only after the dog had gotten caught in a tomato vine were the rabbits able to escape with only half of the flayrah they needed.

As Fiver watched this all from the point of view of the sky, he expected to follow the rabbits as they disappeared into the bushes, but instead his vision focused on the little house.

The curtains of the window were parted by a pair of hands, and even in his dream, from the sky, Fiver let out a gasp.

Gazing through the window was a young girl with red hair and blue eyes.

Gazing through the window was May Belle.

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**Ooh, and the plot thickens. As always, thanks for reading this next chapter! I hope that you enjoyed it and that I didn't epically fail. Please tell me what you think of it! As most author's know, it's hard to keep writing without encouragement. Thank you so much, and I really hope that you're liking the story and how it's going so far. I accept suggestions if you fell like you've got something that can make this story better! Sorry I took so long to update, I was actually grounded this time.**


	5. Chapter 5

The sky was clouding over, as if the clouds were gathering to watch May Belle traveling with her father and brother in the large black truck down a twisting, narrow road. A pole sat in May Belle and Tyler's laps, trembling with each rock the tires hit, and the children had their feet propped up on the bags of dirt.

As May Belle looked down from the clouds in her dreamy haze, a shot of ice slithered down her back as she saw, in Tyler's right hand, a shot gun and she realized what this horrible day was.

May Belle's innocent and unknowing voice broke out. "Father, where are the rabbit's going to go when the buildings are put up?"

Tyler snickered next to her. "Aw, sis, no worries. Pa and I'll make sure that the rabbits will go to a much better place."

"Will they be happy?" asked May Belle, wrinkling her nose as she realized her brother had once again called her by the petname of sis.

"Oh, of course," chimed in Father, who was making a hard turn. The field was just up ahead. The cars of Father's partners were littered among the grass like great beasts waiting for their moment to pounce. A man that May Belle knew as Mr. Malray was struggling with a large gas tank with many hoses attached to it.

"What's that machine for, then?" asked May Belle, leaning forward against the seat belt.

Tyler rolled his eyes now. "Dad, why did we bring her if all she's gonna do is ask questions. You know she's gon' get in the way of the job we gotta do."

Father sighed. "Your mother is resting at home, Tyler. She needs to sleep if she's gonna get rid of that fever she's coming down with. I couldn't have your sister waking her up, now could I?"

May Belle sat back in her seat, disappointed. Her father got out of the car, followed by Tyler, who gripped the gun proudly, swinging it by his side casually. "You're not impressing anyone," she said, beginning to follow Tyler out. Tyler turned and shut the door in her face.

"What did you do that for?" she asked, beginning to open the door and come out again.

"I wouldn't if I were you, May. I don't think you can handle it."

May Belle frowned. "Why? What are you doing with the rabbits anyhow?"

Tyler shut the door again, leaving May Belle in the hot car to wonder what was going on. Why were Father and his friends here?

She watched them all light cigarettes and talk for a while. They seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit.

Up in the clouds, the dreaming May Belle cringed and fought desperately to wake up from the dream, but it seemed she was wrapped in chains. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream from the clouds and to warn the rabbits of what was coming. Most of all, she wanted Fiver.

Father and his friends began to fill in the rabbit holes. They stuck brambles inside of them, blocking off exits. Mr. Malray began to deposit the hoses inside unblocked holes.

May Belle came out of the car by Tyler. "What are you doing?" she asked, watching the holes be filled in. "How are the rabbits gonna get out? Stop!"

The men took little to no notice of her. Only Tyler gave her a smile. "Oh, it gets better, May."

Father tapped Tyler on the shoulder. "Take aim, son. Over there."

Tyler looked over his shoulder to where a rabbit was scuttling out of its hole. He smiled. "Lovely," he said, shifting his gun to aim.

May Belle realized what he was about to do a second before he did it. "No, Tyler! Don't!"

Tyler pulled the trigger and the rabbit began to scream. May Belle began to cry in spite of herself as her father approached the wounded rabbit and walloped it over the head.

As she cried, May Belle felt something strange behind her. Something luring. She turned around and saw another rabbit. She held her tongue as it hopped closer to the holes, not wanting this one to be shot, too. It traveled at a leisurely pace, not seeming to mind the men. Its fur was a depressing, smoky black and its eyes were red. It began to hop closer to the body of the dead rabbit, only pausing to look deep into May Belle's eyes. The black rabbit opened its mouth calmly, showing off fangs, and let out a hiss.

May Belle sat bolt upright, greeted by the morning sun. Her outburst sent Pipkin, who was silflaying nearby, running for his burrow only to run into Fiver, who was coming out of his own burrow.

Fiver looked distraught, as if something had been bothering him all night. His ears were drooping around his face and his eyes were sad.

May Belle bit her lip and brushed away tears from her red face as Fiver hopped toward her. Right then and there she decided she couldn't tell Fiver of that terrible memory. She and her family were rabbit murderers. She was shameful and horrible.

Fiver quivered, and promised himself that he could never speak of the occasion that he had last dreamed of to May Belle. He and his warren had ruined May Belle's family's garden. It was his fault that May Belle's family could not afford medicine for her mother. He and his warren had killed May Belle's mother. They were no better than elil.

No matter how Fiver felt inside, he put on a convincing face and smiled at May Belle. "Good morning, May Belle."

"Hello, Fiver," said May Belle, who did less good of a job of hiding her feelings. She looked down at the grass, trying to keep back tears.

After a moment of this she forced herself to look back up into the rabbit's eyes. They met and the gaze locked together. The small rabbit's eyes were so full of concern and sympathy. May Belle's heart grew more full, and then poured. Noiselessly, May Belle cried, not even allowing herself to whimper.

Fiver hesitated, confused. Why was May Belle crying? Did she have memories of her mother that made her heart heavy? Or was it something else? Nevertheless, May Belle was troubled. He sat silently, waiting patiently for the girl to calm down. He feared that if he tried anything to ease the child, he would cry, too. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he did not trust his voice.

Somewhere off in the distance, thunder rumbled, and the first of many icy raindrops began to soak into their skin.

Fiver considered going down to the honeycomb with the rest of the bunch, but he thought it unfair to leave May Belle up here alone. _She's going to be alone a lot_, he told himself, realizing just how much of his life he did spend underground.

Hazel crawled out of the burrow just enough to stomp his hind leg and collect Fiver's attention. "Fiver, come down here. You can't sit out in the rain."

Fiver shook his head. "No, thank you, Hazel. I'd prefer to stay here if you don't mind too terribly."

Hazel sighed. "Fiver, you can't stay with the girl every moment. You'll never get on with life that way." He gave Fiver a pleading look. If he came back underground without Fiver, Bigwig would never let him hear the end of it.

"I'm sorry, Hazel. I really must."

Hazel shook his head. "Sometimes you're as stubborn as a kitten, Fiver. I'm coming back for you later. I want you to be ready to go by then."

Fiver made no reply; he just lowered his eyes to the grass. May Belle watched as the other rabbit that Fiver seemed to be having a conversation with scampered back down the run into the dark underworld she would never see. "That must be Hazel, then. You keep calling him that."

Fiver looked up and suddenly felt foolish for never formally introducing May Belle to everyone on the Down. It may not have been rabbit custom, but he figured that she couldn't very well learn everyone's names on her own. "Yes," said Fiver calmly. "He's my brother, see."

"Do you have a large family on this Down? Are you related to all of the rabbits?" May Belle's eyes gave him an innocent, questioning look which was piercing with her intense blue irises.

"No," replied Fiver, shaking his head. "Just Hazel and I are related. The rest are just friends." He paused a moment, trying to decide who to name first. "The others, well, the one with black tipped ears, that's Blackberry. You might not be here without him. He helped revive you, smart old chap."

"Then I give him much gratitude," said May Belle, pressing her back against the beech tree. "Dying would've done me no good back there, because I feel that I've never really lived until now, odd as that may sound."

Fiver sat still for a few moments, then said, "No, it actually doesn't sound odd. I understand how you feel." He nestled closer up against May Belle's side, trying to avoid the rain.

Bigwig sat in his burrow angrily wondering what to do. He hated that girl on the Down with a fiery burning passion, and Hazel wouldn't even make a stand. He had to make a plan. As far as he figured, if the girl didn't want to stay, if something terrible happened that made her leave, well then they would all be homefree.

Bigwig sprung into action, down to the honeycomb and past the group of kittens that Pipkin was practicing his story-telling abilities on.

He choose down another run, one that led to Hazel-rah's quarters, and came upon a burrow that Hyzenthlay sat in. Hazel must've been off seeing to the warren. He sat down and waited for moment while Hyzenthlay took notice of him. "Hello, Bigwig. What brings you here?"

"I've got a job to do, and I need some help. You're aware of that girl, what's-her-face."

Hyzenthlay sat straight for a moment or to, then very calmly said, "Yes."

"You don't like her, do you?"

"No, I can't say that I do. I… I once had a slip up with a man, you see. One that strayed into Efrafa… all of the Owsla had gone down their holes in fear, but in the madness of all rabbits running, I made the mistake of looking back." She shivered and combed at her ear nervously. "I saw the man had a gun. He aimed it and shot at a poor doe that I knew well. Her name was Yew, and she had a whole litter of kittens to care for." She paused and looked down at her paws, trying to remember something. "I always see that blood that was splattered on the ground. Always."

Bigwig nodded, watching Hyzenthlay quiver. "So have we agreed? The girl on the down must go?"

"I… I never said that." Hyzenthlay contemplated the pros and cons of this, though, and finally came out with her answer. "But… Yes, I suppose we have."

"Good," said Bigwig. "Will you come with me? I have a little plan on how to fix our problem."

"What sort of plan?" asked Hyzenthlay cautiously.

"One that is so unexpected that the man-kitten will never even want to look at a rabbit again."

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**Ooh, creepy. Anyway, thank you to EVERYONE who has stuck with this story up to here. You are all awesome and you keep me going with this story. Really, odd as it may sound, inspiration comes from the reviews. Thanks so much and I really hoped you liked it. These chapters are so fun to write! I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while with this, I have some things coming up lately, but I'll try to write for this as often as possible. **


	6. Chapter 6

"You've got a right nasty mind there, Bigwig," said Hyzenthlay, after several moments of taking in Bigwig's plan.

"You think it'll work then?" asked Bigwig, crouching on the floor of his burrow, every now and then glancing towards the entrance to make sure that no one had been eavesdropping.

"It's foolproof," said Hyzenthlay slowly. "But how are we to get Fiver to…"

"He must come down sometime. To sleep in the least." Bigwig scratched at the ground absentmindedly and quickly changed the subject. "Are you sure you're up for your part? It all comes down to you, really."

"You have no idea home many times I've had to keep a straight face in Efrafa," said Hyzenthlay. "I can do it."

"We'll give the runt until sunset. If he doesn't come down by then, well, we'll have to speed up the process ourselves."

Hyzenthlay looked down. "Bigwig, are you sure you want to do this? You're aware of the consequences that are sure to come once the girl is…" she couldn't get out the last word.

"It'll be worth. Fiver will have to forgive me eventually. One day, when he gets to my age, he'll look back and realize how silly he had been, trusting humans. Hazel-rah will practically give me an award for saving the warren. Really, only good comes out of it for everyone."

"Everyone except the girl."

Bigwig stayed silent. Not even he had expected himself to be this cold, but this was what man deserved. He needed to set an example. "El-ahrairah would've done no different. He gave rabbits trickery and deception."

"But deceiving your own kind? Tricking other rabbits into your own dirty work? I'll help you, Bigwig, but only because my dislike for man is greater than my dislike for your plan." Hyzenthlay stared at Bigwig, daring him to respond, but all she heard was the slow pitter-patter of the rain dying down on the earth above them.

As the rain lightened up, so did the spirits of May Belle and Fiver. The dreams still stuck to them like heavy weights, but as the day goes on, what happens in the moment becomes much more important than a fading memory of last night. The two young ones found themselves chasing each other around the tree and playfully ducking to hide.

As May Belle ran, she slowed and breathed deeply, her eyes becoming far away. She closed them tight and dropped to her knees, steadying herself by placing her palm on the ground.

Fiver came up from the grass and hopped toward her, circling her once before stopping in front of her. She might have been having a vision like the night before, but why would she be having one and not Fiver? Unless, Fiver countered himself, Frith wanted her to see something and saw it fit that he did not.

"Are you alright?" asked Fiver, his perplexity maddening him to the point where his tail fluttered so fast he believed he might lift off the ground and join Kehaar in the sky.

"Oh, yeah," said May Belle, resting her forehead on her palm. "Yeah… I just feel a little light-headed."

"Why?" asked Fiver, his brown eyes looking up at her with the concern that a doe might have for her sick kitten. That was the way he felt towards May Belle all the same; that he was responsible for this human on the Down.

"Oh, no it's nothing really." As May Belle said this, she clutched at her stomach and took another deep breath. "I just… I think it's because I haven't eaten for so long."

Fiver, even through his worry, felt a playful annoyance towards May Belle. "You're here hungry to the point of weakness and you haven't told anyone? When was the last time you ate?"

"Maybe," May Belle winced again and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. "Three days ago…"

Fiver looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. "Dear Frith, were you planning on starving yourself?"

May Belle gave a short laugh, not having enough strength at the moment to wonder who Frith was. "Well, I guess I really didn't have a plan."

Fiver shook his head and gave a smile, nudging May Belle's arm. "You're a crazy girl. Wait here, I'll get you something to eat. I think we have something or another stored in the burrow."

As Fiver hopped towards the hole, May Belle called after him, "I thought I'd be free once I left my father." She smiled.

"Think again," called Fiver over his shoulder as he disappeared down the run.

Hyzenthlay heard Fiver's voice and could see him coming down the burrow. She stomped her hind leg softly, yet rapidly, which brought Bigwig to her side immediately.

"Oi, Fiver," said Bigwig with such a tone that you'd have thought the two were as chummy as Hawkbit and Dandelion. "What are you up to, lad?"

"On a run for flayrah, Bigwig," said Fiver distractedly. "We still have some down here, don't we?"

Bigwig thought on his feet and smiled. This was going to be a whole lot easier than he had planned. "In fact we do! It's in the back burrow; you know, the spare one. Just go to the back of it. You can't miss it."

Fiver brightened. "Thank you! You're a life-saver, Bigwig!" Fiver darted down the narrow passage in the back of the Honeycomb that opened up into a spare burrow intended for storage.

"Quickly now, Hyzenthlay," whispered Bigwig as soon as Fiver was down the run. "It won't be long before he's asking questions." Together, the two rabbits pushed at a large rock, sliding it in front of the hole.

"Leave some space, now. Not too much, but enough to let the lad breathe." Hyzenthlay was not about to be responsible for the death of her mate's brother.

Bigwig obediently left a crack open and then turned to Hyzenthlay. "Alright, we only have one shot at this. We have to make it seem real. You go up and I'll get the others."

Hyzenthlay nodded, nervous as ever. She turned and ran up the run and into the sunlight. It seemed an insult that this day should be sunny. The way Hyzenthlay saw it, there should be clouds to curtain the dark deed. Her conscience had never felt quite so heavy.

Quietly, not looking at the human girl, Hyzenthlay lay down in grass very still, trying to make her breathing short and ragged.

Bigwig could hear the voices of Hazel and a few others in his burrow. He cleared his throat, ran his paw over his fur to make it look unruly, and then jumped into the burrow as if he had just been running.

Bigwig made a big deal of breathing heavily and looking worried. "The girl!" he sputtered. "She's at it now! She just attacked Fiver! She brought him down the bushes with a hand clamped around his neck! Then she came back alone and went for Hyzenthlay!"

Hazel was tharn for a moment. All conversation was ancient history. Everyone just stared at Bigwig. Then, as if it had been rehearsed, they all broke into a run for the exit.

Although his expression did not waver, Bigwig inwardly chuckled to himself. How easy this would be! The whole warren would attack the girl, and Bigwig wouldn't have to do any work at all!

Fiver was panicking. He couldn't get past the rock. How far would he have to dig? "Bigwig!" he shouted into a crack. "Let me out! I have to—" Fiver was interrupted by a scream that sent him shivering. It was a scream that called for help, one released form the depths of the soul that could only be released in a time of urgent fear, or pain, or both. It was May Belle screaming.

May Belle didn't know what was going on. At one moment she had been studying the clouds, imagining that they were large, fluffy bits of cotton candy. The next, she heard a terrible growling and found that she was surrounded by rabbits.

In the split second of the stare down that they were having, May Belle was able to decipher who most of them were. There was Hawkbit, short and gray with white paws. Then there was Hawkbit's chap, Dandelion; the long, and golden colored storyteller of the Down, as Fiver had put it. She looked at Pipkin and Captain Holly, and could see the strong, gray-brown rabbit with a scar on his leg that she recognized as Fiver's brother, Hazel. He was nuzzling at a rabbit that seemed to be sleeping in the grass.

A few advanced on her. They growled, baring their teeth. One jumped at her and scratched her down the arm. Another one bit into her ankle. Hard.

May Belle jumped up in panic. What was going on? Why were these rabbits attacking her? She let out a scream or sheer terror.

Fiver dug with a burning anger as if the fate of Watership Down depended on it, but he found that he couldn't get past the rock. His paws worked as fast as they could. What was going on? What was Bigwig doing to May Belle? Why was he trapped here?

Another scream seeped into the ground, and cries for help. They tugged at Fiver's heart, because most, if not all of the cries said basically the same thing. "Fiver! Please, help!"

Fiver trembled. The rock glared down at him, seeming to gloat over its triumph. All in one, Fiver collapsed to the ground and began crying. Crying like he had lost a love. Crying like he had failed to prove himself. Crying like he had failed, and lost, May Belle.

May Belle was running. Her bitten ankle made her wince every time she stepped on it, but she couldn't face what was chasing her. Of course, she might have been able to take out the rabbits had she fought them, but what would that make her? Like her father? Like her brother? Like a man?

Then she tripped, coming down good and hard and a sharp stone. The rabbits were pouncing now, teaming up, working on tearing at her flesh. A pair of jaws clamped around her neck. It's over, she thought. May Belle had lost the game.

Fiver raised his head to the ceiling, the tears crowding to push past his eyes. "Lord Frith," he begged to the stars. "Great El-ahrairah. Please help me. Help me to find a way to save May Belle." He looked up, not knowing what to expect. Nothing happened. All he heard was the snarls of rabbits above him. Directly above him.

Then he saw it; a drop of light reaching out and grasping his gaze. What was it? A run? No, it was more of a scrape. One that could collapse at any moment, if disturbed. It was so small that Pipkin may very well have had difficulty making it through.

He scurried towards it. Would it collapse if he tried to crawl through it? If it were to, he would be suffocated. Did he dare risk his life to save May Belle? Who dares, wins, thought Fiver.

Bigwig watched from the entrance to the run of the honeycomb. Any time now, the kill would come in. The girl was down and the rabbits were merciless. This was his last chance to turn back on the plan. He struggled with his conscience and his mind at war.

Hazel moved in, straying away from Hyzenthlay and towards the girl. He moved calmly and slowly, taking his time. Bigwig had never seen him so serious

Claws at the ready, Hazel was about to make the final move that would forever silence the girl. Then a noise reached into his mind and lulled him to look up. It was a voice he had been hearing all his life, and now it was filled with horror and shock and disbelief.

"Hazel?!"

Hazel looked up. Fiver was there, completely unharmed, yet at the same time looking so hurt. Looking betrayed.

May Belle looked up, fragile and pale. "Fiver," she whispered. The two held their gaze for a few moments before she said it again. "Fiver." Then she passed into an unconscious state.

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**Drama hurts! Really, I'm not usually one for writing big dramatic, gushy pieces like this, but I could NOT resist. So… love it? Hate it? Do you want more chapters like this? I can only know what to do through reviews. Really, strange as this may sound, this is the story I update most often, and I only get about 13 hits every chapter. Why update so frequently, then? Because you people write such solid and inspiring reviews. Why am I talking like this? Because it's late at night and I want to get the heck into bed but I wanted to finish this and get it up, first. So, please help and inspire me for the next chapter. You are all awesome for reading this. Thanks so much.**


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy Cane stared up from under her sheets, tears seeming to endlessly drip from her eyes. Again, she asked herself why she bothered to cry. All it earned her were headaches and scolding from her mother. Not that her mother scolded her too often; not now anyway. Not while she was still in the midst of grief.

Lucy kicked away the lacey sheet, as if that were what was suffocating her instead of her pressing sadness. This, she found, was a fatal mistake, for, through her curtain of dark brown hair, she saw a few old pictures tacked up on her wall, and they all tugged at her heart.

Although she knew she shouldn't, Lucy pushed herself forward, going at a steady pace towards the pictures. She saw herself at her birthday party, laughing and having a good time with frosting smeared across her nose and her best friend pulling her hand away, her being the one who had smeared the frosting. She smiled, and turned her eyes to the next picture. It was herself and her best friend again, this time at the carnival, about to board a Ferris Wheel. The camera was tilted at an odd angle, and Lucy recalled that the red headed girl in the photo's brother had been holding the camera, fumbling with the buttons.

Finally, she looked at the last picture in the row. There was her and her best friend with the icy blue eyes, and they were sitting in their tree house together, whispering and sharing secrets. Lucy's father had taken this photograph, so the image was plain and clear.

Lucy swept a glance over the three photos once more, and even though her smile was true, inside she was bubbling with sadness. Then the name of her best friend pushed forward along with a new stream of tears. _May Belle._

Lucy wiped the moisture away and ordered herself to calm down. It was very improper of a lady to cry about something that couldn't be helped, even if she was only 13 years old.

Lucy ran through her bedroom door, slowing down as she reached the hallway. She could hear her mum in the living room—probably tidying up—with the TV on. In the past week, Mrs. Cane had developed a habit of checking the news hourly on Lucy's behalf.

As Lucy walked onto the cushiony carpet, her heart fluttered as those familiar icy blue eyes met her eyes once more as they came up on the telly.

"… and as of today, 13-year-old May Belle Covern is entering her second week missing. Officials say that the chances of finding her alive are smaller each day, but do not want to draw conclusions until a body is retr—"

The TV flicked off, a slow reaction on Mrs. Cane's part, but it was already too late. Lucy's ears rang with dread and her eyes welled with tears. She felt her mother's arms wrap around her, trying to comfort her. "It's alright, honey. We'll find her. She'll be fine. I promise."

Lucy brushed a tear out of her eye, and she slipped out of her mother's hold. With a clumsy attempt to get to the other side of the room, she threw open the door and ran out into the garden, hopped the fence, and ran off the property of Nuthanger Farm, as if she could outrun her troubles.

Bigwig sat braced in the corner of the honeycomb as Hazel-rah spoke to him in a low, calm but furious voice. He was relieved that Hyzenthlay sat next to him, knowing that Hazel would have a harder time punishing a doe, not to mention his mate.

Hazel's brown eyes darted from in between the two rabbits as he chose his words carefully. "I am shocked by what you did. Beyond words, mind you. I knew that _you_ would try something to convince me that the girl had to go, Bigwig, but Hyzenthlay? I never expected this from you, of all rabbits. Why?"

"I'm sorry, Hazel," said Hyzenthlay. "It's just that… she's a man… I mean, I can't… I didn't… I don't trust her, Hazel. I'm sorry."

Hazel stayed silent a moment, silently accepting the apology, before he turned back to Bigwig. "A captain of Owsla is supposed to be loyal to his chief," he said.

"He's also supposed to be protective of his warren," countered Bigwig wryly.

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "I still can't believe what you did. That girl has done nothing to you—nothing to any rabbit, I'd say. You can't just jump to conclusions like that."

Bigwig gave no reply, so Hazel continued. "I hope you realize that that girl out there has more in common with you than you think. Besides Fiver, I dare say that you're more like her beyond anyone on the Down."

"I have nothing in common with her," spat Bigwig, suddenly defensive of his pride. Being compared to a man-kitten would be a stab to his pride that Hawkbit would never let him live down.

"Oh?" asked Hazel, shifting his weight to all four paws. "I don't know of a single other rabbit that would survive in a snare. Only you, Bigwig."

"Yeah, thanks for the obvious," sneered Bigwig, who regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth. Sarcasm was the only line of defense he could muster up at this point.

"And do you know of another human who could survive an attack of a full warren while not fighting back."

Bigwig opened his mouth, an insult burning his tongue, but shut it fast.

"She's strong, Bigwig. You can deny it all you like, but she's just too stubborn to die, much less be driven out of a warren by you. And would you be any less?"

"I suppose not," answered Bigwig cautiously.

"Think on that, please. Next time you're about to do something rash to that girl, please just think on that." With that, Hazel turned and went down the run the led to his burrow.

Fiver sat in his burrow, combing his ears, having just woken from a night of sleep. All seemed at peace for the moment, but he still couldn't help feeling a flutter of worry for May Belle. Yesterday she had been sleeping and waking off and on, whimpering something or another the way Captain Holly had during his first night on the Down, and all Fiver could accomplish was getting her to eat a bit of Flayrah.

Nevertheless, there he sat in his burrow, unmoving, drinking in the light of Frith rising, clinging to it like it were the only thing holding this tranquility. Vilthuril sat huddled in one corner with the kittens all sleeping peacefully, scattered among the floor, and they all seemed oblivious when a noise from overhead pierced through the silence.

Fiver looked up the run at the pink sky, his ears tilted forward. It was coughing that poured down the hole, and he didn't have to be as smart as Blackberry to figure out who it was. Carefully, Fiver weaved through his kittens sprawled in the nest and began scurrying up the run.

When he spotted May Belle, he nearly lost his balance in shock. Her fur had changed over the coarse of Inle. It was no longer a pale yellow like a Daisy, but a rough blue like a cool, clean stream. And it didn't fan out in a circular hoop around her ankles that swayed when she walked. It was now two separate branches that came down in an upside down "Y" and hugged around her legs.

The blue fur traveled upward until it reached her arms, where two straps that came up from behind her and rest on a white spread of fur separated from the blue spread held the rough blue fur up.

(**A/N:** Wow, that outfit took a lot of explaining. In case you got lost in all of the description, she's wearing blue overalls with a white T-shirt under it.)

It was a look that Fiver identified as more natural. No unnecessary or decorative furs hanging from her. She looked stunningly different. Then Fiver rethought that sentence, and ended it on "she looks stunning."

May Belle was leaning on the tree for support, doubled over and coughing, her eyes tight shut. She didn't see Fiver approaching, and jumped when he asked her, "Are you alright?"

May Belle looked down at her small friend. "Oh, yes," she said, lowering down to her knees. "I'm sorry if I woke you. I haven't been right since…" her voice trailed off and she decided not to bring up the attack again.

Fiver frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose it's from all of those scratches and bruises. Oh, I'm so sorry, May Belle. I never meant for anything to happen."

May Belle shook her head, thinking that you don't cough from scratches and bruises, but then again, it may very well be an allergy. _Wouldn't it be tragic if I had some form of hay fever?_ She thought to herself as she pulled back her hair, which hung inconveniently in front of her face.

Fiver sat down when he got no response. He rubbed both paws over his nose for a few moments, thinking hard, his curiosity burning to the point of being insufferable. Finally, he asked his question. "How did you… how did you change your fur?"

May Belle gave Fiver a strange look. "My fur? What do you mean, Fiver?"

"Well, last night, your fur was yellow and puffy—you know, it swayed at the bottom like a willow tree. Now it's…" Fiver shook his head, confused by this man trick that May Belle had pulled.

May Belle giggled, finally understanding. "Oh, no, Fiver. I've merely changed clothes, see."

"Clothes?"

Now May Belle sighed. "Umm, clothes is like… removable fur. We can take it off and put new forms of it on. See?" She opened her knapsack to display the dress that she had slipped out of the night before.

Fiver gaped for a few moments, his mind working like a Rubics cube, trying to click it all into place. He shook his head, his tail fluttering at a mind boggling pace. "So where did this come from, then?"

"Huh?" asked May Belle.

"The new 'clothes'. How did you get them?"

"Oh," said May Belle. "They're my brother's, see. Last week, before I left the house, I packed a T-shirt and a pair of overalls. Mum used to let me wear overalls. Dad always thought it was improper of a lady, though."

Fiver nodded, not understanding half the things May Belle had just explained, but pretended to comprehend it very seriously. He pursed his lips, not wanting to fall back into the awkward silence, and said, "What's your brother's name?"

"Tyler," said May Belle, twirling her hair around her finger. "He's four minutes older than me."

"Really?" asked Fiver. "Does that mean you were born last in the litter?"

The corners of May Belle's mouth twitched as she tried to conceal laughter. "Sure, mate. I guess you could look at it that way."

Lucy slowed down as she ran through the wood, mostly because she didn't want to trip. Her eyes were totally blocked with tears now. She had run a few miles away from the farm, so her chances were pretty good that she wouldn't be finding anyone she knew. Now she allowed herself to sit down and cry.

Lucy was gasping for air, pushing her hair out of her face, trying to calm her body that trembled like an earthquake. _Now stop it,_ she ordered herself. _It's not going to do you any good to act like a two-year-old. It's not going to bring May Belle back._

The trees around her swayed, and in the distance she could hear a trickle of water. She imagined that in a stream there would be fish, and that could be something to keep her company, and that was what she desperately wanted at this point, so Lucy Cane stumbled back up to her feet.

Instead of finding the water, she found herself walking towards the open, where a line of bushes cleared. Perhaps she'd see something when she made it out there.

As she neared it, though, something made her stop. There was a laughter ringing through the air, one that thrilled her, and chilled her at the same time. Lucy stopped and slowly raised her eyes to where she saw her very best friend.

Lucy had found May Belle on Watership Down.

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**Oh my gosh, scary! No, actually, not my best cliffhanger, but ah well. Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. And don't be afraid to review the story twice, I'm overjoyed when I get reviews! Really, cause without reviews I wouldn't be motivated to update, which would be extremely bad. So, thanks for everything. It's you people who keep this story alive and going.**

**Oh, and if you're worried about Lucy, don't worry. She won't be around for too long. I just need her to deliver a little more information ;) Alright, thanks everyone!**


	8. Chapter 8

It had never occurred to Fiver that, perhaps, May Belle was concealing a dark mix of grief a longing, feeling an overwhelming homesickness. Not that anyone could blame him for not knowing, though. May Belle had not laid any hints that she had even given her past home a second thought now that she had left it. But she did.

When May Belle had been lonely, she thought back to her home and, although she would never admit it, wondered why she had left and if she would ever go back. Her sense had only been clear about one thing: leave. But it never explained why.

So May Belle had sat in the cold moonlight each night, remembering her family and friends, and the life that she had left. Not that she wanted to return to it at this point… she didn't think she could ever go back to that house. Not to the house that her mother had died in, and where she had cooked and cleaned and been told what to do in for so many years.

But there were a few things she did miss. She had longed for the safety and comfort of her house, the warmth of her bed, and her sense of belonging with her friends. And Lucy had not been the only one grieving for her friend. In fact, May Belle had been quite an active character on the other end. It seemed that each night away, the sadness in the form of tears weighed down on her broken heart more and more.

All of that sadness came pouring out in an explosion of shock and joy when she locked eyes with Lucy, and it came out so fast that Fiver had been caught off guard.

Lucy was halfway up the hill before May Belle had even noticed her, but that didn't bother either of the girls. That meant it was only a shorter distance to run until they could once again fall into each other's arms and satisfy their broken hearts.

It was only an immediate reaction when May Belle stood up and shrieked. She ran towards Lucy, meeting her a fourth of the way down the hill and they collapsed into each other's arms and onto the grass, already having worked up a sob of complete disbelief.

Fiver did not know what to do. Was this an array of affection, or was it an attack? He quivered, trying to make a decision, before jumping forward; close enough to jump in if he was needed, but far enough to know that something was coming at him before it came.

Lucy trembled, clutching May Belle close for what seemed like forever. The two girls said nothing, but just cried like they could mend the broken hearts of their separation with a certain amount of tears.

After the girls could finally clear the tears from their eyes and could sputter out something beyond, "Oh, God! I missed you," Lucy sat up and whimpered in her throat, blinking her puffy red eyes. "May Belle! May Belle!"

May Belle sat up as well, showing mock annoyance to camouflage her bewilderment. "That's my name, and don't you ware it out, Lucy Cane," she giggled, falling into another hug.

Lucy trembled, bubbling to the brim with so many questions that they all came rushing out at once. "How—who—what—why—MAY BELLE?"

May Belle rolled her eyes and smiled. "Good God, Lucy, use your English."

Lucy wasn't amused for too long. She had too many questions. "Why are you here? How long _have_ you been here?"

"Ever since the first night I left," admitted May Belle, running a hand down the pants of her overalls.

Lucy, who happened to be a perfectionist, was horrified by May Belle's appearance. She reached up and tried to comb the mud out of her friend's hair with her fingers. "You've been living here in the open for a week? How did you survive?"

"Honestly, it wasn't that hard. All I did was really sit under the tree, eat every now and then, and drink the rain water."

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "_Eew_."

May Belle rolled her eyes again. She instinctively shifted closer to Fiver, not wanting him to feel left out after all the kindness he had given her.

Lucy noticed Fiver lying in the grass for the first time, and her mouth just hung open as she watched May Belle rest her hand on the rabbit lightly along his mousy brown fur. The rabbit seemed to be trusting of her. "You've trained a rabbit?" she asked, staring.

May Belle was about to open her mouth and say something along the lines of, "Yes, his name is Fiver and we can communicate with each other. Funny, don't you think?" when she realized that, if she said this, Lucy would think she had caught some disease and was hallucinating. Lucy would probably call the authorities and have her dragged away, and she could only imagine the terrible things that could happen to the rabbits; anywhere along the lines of a new place for hunting to leveling out the Down and building a shopping mall! She couldn't let that happen.

"Hey, it's my turn to ask questions!" she said indignantly, desperate to change the subject.

Lucy rose her eyes to look at May Belle and cocked her head to the side. "You're the one who's been missing for a week!"

"Which means that I must've missed a lot! Are people worried about me?"

Lucy nodded, her eyes a little more wide like she was trying to remember something. She felt an echo of something she should be remembering to tell May Belle, but something about her didn't want to remmeber "You're on the news, May Belle! You…" she paused, suddenly remembering the terrible thing she had been trying to forget about.

May Belle was quick to pick up on Lucy's change in mood. She grabbed her hands. "Lucy, what is it?"

Lucy trembled, wondering why she would have to be the one to tell May Belle. Her pale face had tears streaming down it as she imagined what could've happened to May Belle had she not run away.

"What is it?" begged May Belle, suddenly hit by a gust of cold wind, but the wasn't what made her shiver.

"You're brilliant," said Lucy finally. "You have no idea how brilliant you are by having run away."

"What?" asked May Belle, confused.

Lucy was crying, and the memories of the horrible news that she had received came flooding back after she had tried to lock them away. "The day after you left… They sent him away on the train."

"Sent who away? And what's the train? Where does it go?"

Lucy's brown eyes and May Belle's blue eyes locked. "Away," whispered Lucy. "Away to where the unwanted children go!"

"Who!?"

Lucy collapsed. "Tyler."

May Belle was absolutely frozen. He spinal cord locked in its position as she tried to register what was going on. Tyler… train… unwanted kids. Tyler… train… unwanted kids.

The rabbits were gathered at the mouth of the run, trying to push past one another to get a better view of this unbelievable phenomenon taking place right in front of them.

Bigwig was really dancing on Hazel's nerves. He relentlessly reminded Hazel again and again that he had warned him that this would happen, and none of this would be going on if he had just listened to him. Then, Bigwig scoffed into the tufts of grass that just brushed against the hole what everyone had been thinking: "That brother of yours has gone moon mad."

Hazel couldn't protest. There was Fiver, sitting perfectly calmly next to the two humans, not even flinching on account of the newest human. May Belle and the other man-kitten were shaking violently. They were crying, Hazel realized.

He clenched and unclenched his jaw as he studied the newest girl. All he could see was her tanned skin and dark curls falling along the back of a light blue dress, but there was a buzzing in his ears that he couldn't quite categorize.

"Either that or he's incredibly brave," remarked Hyzenthlay from behind the two bucks. Hazel jumped, having not realized that she had crept up behind them.

"You all right, Hazel?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Hazel sighed. "Yes, it's just that new girl out there… something strange about her…"

"All humans are strange, Hazel-rah," smirked Bigwig.

Hazel cuffed Bigwig on the back, which he accepted with dignity. "I mean… it's just… strange. I feel like I've seen her before."

"Meet one human you've met them all," ventured Bigwig. This time all he got was an irritated glance.

Then the girl in the blue dress turned to look over its shoulder, and Hazel nearly slipped down the run. He might have if Hyzenthlay had not caught him. "What is it?" she asked.

Hazel's eyes were wide, but his pupils were down to slits. "I know that girl! She was the one who pulled the farm cat off of me and helped me home."

"Oh, the one who took you in a hrududu?" asked Bigwig.

"Exactly," replied Hazel, shivering slightly. He sighed. "What are we to do?"

"I—"

"Rhetorical question," snapped Hazel. Bigwig shut his mouth and looked away.

May Belle was crying, and Fiver had no idea why, which was driving him mad. He didn't know what a train was, but it couldn't have been good. Out of empathy, he nudged May Belle's arm, and whispered, "May Belle?"

May Belle shook her head, sniffing. "Fiver, it's terrible!"

Fiver did not know much of what was going on, all he got was that Tyler had been sent somewhere bad, and Lucy had said that if May Belle had not run away, the same thing would've happened to her. "Why did it happen?" asked Fiver softly.

May Belle cried a few moments more before saying, "Some people think of only themselves. They can't handle responsibility, and so they send it away not minding what happens to it."

"And what will become of Tyler?"

Now May Belle had shriveled down into the grass, resting her head next to Fiver, and crying out, "He's going to die! They treat children so poorly where he is! Fiver, he's going to die and no one will remember him." She sobbed furthermore.

Fiver was about to comfort May Belle more so when Lucy crawled next to her and gathered her in a hug. "Please stop this, it's not helping."

"What?" asked May Belle.

"Talking to yourself! Please, you're scaring me. Are you feeling all right?"

May Belle sighed, and shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I…" she looked back up at Lucy. "It's just that I've been staying her so long that…"

Lucy waved May Belle into silence. She gave May Belle a look of sheer worry. "What are you going to do?" she asked pleadingly. "You can't stay here forever and you can't go home!"

Fiver opened his mouth, completely bewildered as the reality of it all hit him; this was a life or death situation. Unlike many times in the past, he had no idea what would happen or where to go.

"I…" May Belle whimpered. "I don't know…"

Lucy sighed. "Lucky for you, I do. Your picture; it's all over the news and everything. Somebody will know who you are if they find you."

"What do you propose I do, then?"

"Well, change the way you look, of course. At least as much as possible… I mean, perhaps we could cut your hair or something."

"My hair?" shrieked May Belle, grabbing at her locks and jumping back.

"Maybe bleach it," continued Lucy.

"You're off your rocker if you think I'm going to—"

"Then what do you think we should do? Every night that you look like that you're in danger. Do you want to be sent away? I'll never see you again if you are!"

May Belle hesitated. She buried her hands in her face and sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. "I… need some time to think about it."

Lucy pursed her lips. "Tomorrow morning," she ordered. "No later than that."

"Why?"

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "I'm going away for the weekend. My family is going to the market. Well, I mean, not my whole family. My parents are dragging me along, but Kevin's staying to watch the house. We're leaving tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh no."

"I'll bring some scissors, and lemon juice tomorrow morning."

May Belle sniffed. "No need to bring scissors and raise your mother's suspicion any more than it needs to be. I have Tyler's pocketknife."

"Alright. So you'll do it?"

"I have to think about it. I'll have an answer by morning."

Lucy looked down. She reached over and hugged her friend one last time. "I love you, May Belle."

May Belle brushed away a tear. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucy stood up and ran down the hill, her dress streaming behind her, catching the last glimpses of the sun as it slipped behind a cloud once more.

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**(Looks back over page and sighs) I'm so sorry for two things: One, I know this chapter is horrible, but I CANNOT keep you people waiting any longer, and two, I AM REALLY SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT! Really, I actually stumbled into such a horrible period of writer's block that in the end I put on a dress and sat with my cat, pretending he was Fiver. Only then was I able to write this chapter… and it still turned out bad. Well, I promise next chapter will be better with more rabbit action and better writing. Please excuse my suckishness… **

**Well, thanks for reading! And tell me what YOU think is going to happen because, I regret to tell you, this story is coming to an end. I have been meditating on this ending for two months, but the wait will be worth it. Just a few more chapters left! Alright, right now I would like to thank everyone who's reviewed and read and helped with this story. Although I don't have as many reviews as I would like (I know there are silent readers out there, please review. It would mean so much to me) I am really happy with the enthusiastic readers I have (Hi, Myrkin! Hi Sharks Potter!). Alright, please keep reading and please write reviews. The more enthusiastic reviews I get, the sooner I update and the more psyched about writing I will be. Okay, now the author's note is getting to be longer than the chapter so I'm gonna end it now. Thanks for everything! Bye! I promise I'll update sooner!**


	9. Chapter 9

May Belle stared blankly ahead, hoping to wake up from this nightmare. She refused to reach up and confirm this horror. Under no circumstances would she allow herself to…

But even as she thought these words, her hand crept up from the grass and she ran her fingers down her part, pulling down one of the bangs to see for herself. The color had not changed from the last time she had checked; it was still a strawberry blonde.

She tossed back the bang as quickly as possible, feeling her stomach churn. She ran her hand down the part again, this time tracing the hair. It barely covered her earlobes.

She trembled in the still climbing light of late morning. She could feel dozens of pairs of small eyes behind her, gawking at he until it seemed as if they were boaring holes into her back. Even Fiver was speechless as he tried to comprehend what had happened.

May Belle looked down at the trodden grass that left a trail leading to the way Lucy had gone. Now that this had happened to her, who could she pour out her melancholy to? Lucy was with her family, probably already on her way to the market. The closest person was Lucy's constantly drunk older brother, Kevin, who was managing Nuthanger Farm while his father was absent.

She sighed heavily and tried to think about the future, but her head was hurting too much. She tugged on the sleeve of her T-shirt, feeling waves of warmth come down on her one after another, each growing stronger, and it was not pleasant.

Fiver couldn't find the words that he needed to say. How could he comfort May Belle when he had no idea what had happened? Even though he had been right there, watching Lucy changing the color of May Belle's hair with an acidic smelling liquid, he was still clueless as to what it meant.

May Belle drew her knees closer to her and rest her forehead on the kneecaps, concealing her face with her arms. Then she began to cry.

Fiver just lay down in the grass and stared into the sunset, thinking that what May Belle need at this point was to cry away her troubles.

This was exactly what May Belle did, and more. She cried away her memories, thoughts, feelings, until she had cried to sleep in the grass. All the better, thought Fiver as he turned to go down the run to the Honeycomb.

As soon as he had reached the bottom, he found himself being bombarded with questions. Bigwig and Hazel were there first.

"Fiver?" asked Hazel, crouching by his brother encouragingly, but at the same time trying to look like an authority figure. "What was that about?"

"How should I know?" asked Fiver passively, and he tried to turn towards the way his burrow was. Bigwig stopped him.

"Don't you play dumb with me, brother," ordered Hazel as Bigwig towered over the rabbit half his size. "You were the only one there, and you're the only one who has any idea about half of what's happening on this Down anymore."

Fiver sighed, shaking his head. "I feel that I don't even know half. All I am is confused." He paused, waiting for someone to accuse him.

Instead, Hazel softened. "Is she going to be staying here long? Or will she be going home?" he asked, and Bigwig shifted uncomfortably.

Fiver's wide, staring eyes were sad, and he spoke as if his words hurt him. "She doesn't have a home anymore. She can't go back to the man burrow she once lived at, or she will certainly be killed."

"How can you be sure?"

Fiver felt numb, no longer aware of his paws on the floor or the walls that surrounded him. Now all that mattered was getting the message across: May Belle needed a home. "It happened to her brother."

A few rabbits twittered nervously as they listened in on the conversation. Fiver sighed again, being well aware of this, and the whole Honeycomb grew silent as he began to tell of May Belle's tragedy.

When May Belle had finally woken up, she was shocked to see that the sun was already dipping lower in the sky. But that wasn't the only thing strange.

Around her were a lot of young rabbits; not just Fiver like before. They were looking up at her with wide eyes. Most of them were small, kittens, she reminded herself, remembering the correct term for a baby rabbit.

They all seemed mesmerized by her, as if she were some ancient legend brought forward from old times, and it made her uncomfortable.

May Belle looked around for something familiar to cling to. The rabbits were feeding pleasantly here or there, seemingly unbothered by her presence.

May Belle blinked. Was she dreaming, and tat was why the rabbits were being so accepting? No, she could feel the cool air on her skin. She had to be awake.

"Fiver?" she whispered. She hadn't meant to whisper, but she found that her throat was dry. She coughed, and swallowed hard, but it didn't help much. She grabbed at her head, which was hurting more by the moment.

One of the kittens brushed against her softly, as if testing a bridge to make sure it wouldn't collapse. When she didn't react, a few more of the rabbits closed in on her, whispering comforting words, even though they knew May Belle couldn't hear them.

"It's alright, May Belle," said Yale, a kitten of Blackberry. "We've lost a brother, too. Don't be sad."

"Yes," agreed Sparrow. "We know how you feel. It's all right."

May Belle coughed again. The kittens looked up at her with wide eyes. May Belle grabbed at her throat, and felt the chain to her half of her mother's necklace. She sighed and blinked again, wondering if her mother saw where she was right now, and if she would be happy with what was happening.

Fiver, who was at the foot of the other side of the down, could hear a buzz of excitement going up, like something that had been long anticipated had finally come to be. He edged a little ways up the hill to where others turned to him with cocky expressions.

Fiver cocked his head to the side, and, in the wind, could hear the sound of May Belle's coughing, and even though he hated the sound, he was glad it was there.

May Belle rose up on her arms, her legs laying limp behind her, and looked around, at each of the kittens, trying to find some explanation. She wasn't prepared when a set of paws rested on her back, and her unusual weakness brought her down.

Fiver and May Belle went tumbling down the hill, but all the while they were laughing the pure laughter of friendship. The kittens raced after them, entertained by it all.

May Belle tried to stop, but she was tired. Why was she so weak? She blinked, letting her laughter slim down to silence, and came to flat ground where she stopped at a bush. But she was still smiling.

Fiver was only able to stop when May Belle caught him. "Your not the most graceful gentleman I've seen in my years," giggled May Belle as Fiver tried to pick himself up and look less foolish in front of the snickering rabbits watching from the hill. Hazel had a playful look in his eyes as he browsed through the grass, because he already knew the conversation that was to unfold.

"Yes, well, I never was too good at that."

Fiver's eyes shone brightly, and he was about to say something when he became aware of the kittens behind him. They all batted their tails innocently. Fiver looked down to them.

"Is there somewhere else you should be?" he asked them, and they all looked clueless. "Perhaps you should check back in with your parents?" he suggested lightly.

A few of the rabbits got what he meant now, and four of the six fanned out to find a place where they could overhear the conversation, but was still agreeable with Fiver. Only Yale and Sparrow were left, and Sparrow was trying to push Yale away, but Yale wouldn't budge. "Our daddy knows where we are," she said sweetly.

Sparrow scratched Yale on the shoulder, and Yale whimpered. "Sparrow!"

Sparrow crowded into his sister. "Yale, come on. Fiver wants to be alone."

"But the girl's still here! Why does he want to be alone with her?" Fiver felt his ears drop against his back.

Sparrow looked at Fiver apologetically before giving his sister a final push. "Move."

May Belle felt a small smile creep to her lips when she saw Fiver's flustered look. "What happened? Did they say something?"

Fiver felt small for a few more moments. "Nothing…" he said. "Nothing."

May Belle pushed herself hard enough to sit up, and by the time she looked back down, Fiver's mood had already brightened back to the cheeriness he had had as he rolled down the hill, but he seemed to be waiting for May Belle to make the first move.

May Belle looked back at small eyes that seemed to be peering from everywhere. "So why do all of these kittens suddenly have an interest in me, Fiver? They could've cared less last time I checked."

Fiver looked at her in surprise. "Was that how you felt?"

"I suppose a bit," said May Belle. "I can't exactly say I felt the most welcomed…" She pointed to a scratch going down her arm that Hawkbit had torn into her.

"Oh… that," said Fiver meekly.

May Belle wrinkled her nose. "Don't feel bad about it. We can't change the past."

Fiver thought about this as he nodded, and decided if he was going to say something, he had better say it now. "Well, I can sure say that won't be happening again."

"And why's that?" laughed May Belle, rolling her eyes playfully for a moment. That made her only all the more caught off guard when she heard the answer.

"Just earlier today I talked with Hazel and Bigwig, and practically the whole warren. Up until now, they've never understood what's been going on with you. They were just confused and suspicious."

May Belle arched her brows. "Really?"

"Oh, yes! When I had finished telling them, you should've seen Bigwig! He looked as if he had seen the Black Rabbit of Inle."

The words "Black Rabbit of Inle" sent the image of the terrible black rabbit she had seen only a few months ago into her mind for a split moment, but she tried her best to keep that out of her mind. Instead she asked, "And what does that mean?"

Fiver quivered with excitement. This was the moment that everyone on the Down was waiting for. "It means you have a home, May Belle! Everyone's agreed to it; you're now a member of Watership Down. An honorary rabbit!"

At first, May Belle had trouble understanding this. Through her 13 years, she had had trouble making friends. The only really good friend that she had was Lucy, and all she really hoped for was a few more people to rely on. But a whole colony of living, breathing creatures that were willing to extend their friendship and acceptance towards her? She couldn't even dream up something like that. She did the only thing that needed to be done at the moment: She coughed.

Fiver quite enjoyed watching May Belle's reaction. It had been like melting ice: slow at first, only a small trickle, but as the bottom began to thaw, the top crumbled down. She coughed once, but her face came back up with a broad smile.

"Fiver, I… I don't know what to say!" May Belle's freckled face was brilliantly lit up in joy, her mind completely overwhelmed by that one word: Accepted.

She didn't need to say anything, though, because small squeals of joy came from the bushes, and Fiver could hear the kittens chanting, "Welcome to the family, May Belle!"

Yale watched this from her spot in the grass, and she stood up on her hind legs to announce to the whole warren, "He's told her!" Most rabbits raised their heads to see what was happening, except for Sparrow. He tried to hide his face in shame of his sister, who couldn't get a clue.

Older rabbits, who were trying to avoid looking foolish, inched closer, pretending to only be following trails of good grass. Fiver found extraordinarily amusing and whispered to May Belle, "The kittens are merely a test. It's hard to survive through a wave of excited grown rabbits."

"Any tips?" asked May Belle, laughing as the kittens ran around her.

"How fast can run?"

Hazel stayed at the top of the Down, watching the array of affection as it took place. Hyzenthlay and Bigwig were beside him. "You're not going down there?" asked Hazel, his clear brown eyes staying set on the commotion below.

"I reckon not," replied Bigwig. "I'd feel rather out of place celebrating with a girl I've recently tried to kill."

Hyzenthlay shook her head. She watched carefully all the same. "It's a beautiful thing to watch," she murmured. "I always doubted that the day in which rabbits and men could live in harmony would come."

"And with good reason," answered Bigwig. "Bear in mind that that girl is no man. She's a rabbit at heart."

The whole of the rabbits all keeping their focus on May Belle kept everyone occupied. She found that some of the rabbits were quite good at knocking her about, despite the fact of size difference. It seemed that, although she was unable to speak with them, they could discuss a thousand different topics without a problem. Fiver was not needed to translate anything.

And for the first time in a while, Fiver felt himself being freed. He had not noticed it (and if he had he would never have complained about it), but when May Bell had come, he was weighed down with a feeling of responsibility for her, him being the only one to know or trust her. Now that she was everybody's friend and like a sister to all on the Down, he could relax and know that May Belle was safe.

To May Belle, the day rolled by overwhelmingly fast, and nobody paused to consider or reflect on anything. They were just anxious to get to the next moment and find the next miracle. That was all fine with her.

As things calmed out, she suddenly realized why something had been bothering her and what it was: she was glad that no one was raising suspicion about her constant coughing, because each one came out deeper and more energy consuming then the last. Some thought that the excitement had drained her of energy, but that wasn't it. As each second rolled on, she felt her fever rising, and her strength weakening.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Yep, that's me! I have a perfectly happy and satisfying moment, and then the reader is like "Aaw, what a happy ending!" But your wrong! The end is still far! That's why I add in these scary suspenseful ending. So you're welcome! :D Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I know that when I ask for suggestions, most people are like, "Why would you need suggestions if you have the story planned out?"**

**Well, I only have an outline planned out. Think about it, mentioning one little possibility could spark an idea and I'll end up writing five more chapters than I had originally planned to! Unless, of course, you don't like the store, and you want it to end soon, but that's up to you. Please, reviews are really helpful and much appreciated! Even just saying something like "Good…" makes me happy (although I give people hugs when they give nice long and thoughtful reviews. But I understand that some people just don't have time for that.)**

**Okay, I'm sorry about how long this next chapter took. It would have been up sooner, but I was grounded, so sorry about that. Alright, thanks! Hugs to all of you! **


	10. Chapter 10

"Because I could not stop for death," muttered May Belle, her eyes unfocussed as she stared at the stars, "He kindly stopped for me." She paused for breath, trying to remember what these words meant. But they didn't have to make sense, she reasoned in her stretching mind as she sat at the base of the hill, her legs in the brush and her short, false blond hair sticking to the side of her face as she sweat in the denim overalls that she bore.

These words comforted her like none other could. As she closed her eyes, she saw them inscribed in a tight, red leather notebook, written in dark blue ink that was set to paper by her mother's smooth, clean hand writing. May Belle's mother had always had a funny love for art in words, as she called it. Emily Dickinson was one much admired by the two women, and so May Belle took it as a link to her mother.

"The carriage held but just ourselves," she finally continued after pausing, "And Immortality."

_Immortality_, she wondered, tossing over and closing her eyes once more. _To never die? I suppose it's a fine thought when you know what's coming… _Then she questioned herself on saying this. _Do I know what's coming?_ She opened her eyes once more, feeling she must do something. Obviously she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, and so May Belle pondered this thought, listening to it rattling inside her head, bouncing off the sides, and she asked it again. Do _I know what's to come of me? Is tonight my last?_

With this unsettling thought, she tried to clear her throat and immediately regretted it. She grabbed up at it, the inside feeling drier than sawdust. "That's just great," she muttered. "Here I am, fever over 100, and I'm dying of thirst. Where's that rain when you need it?" She complained bitterly like this to no one in particular, trying to wring any ideas that she could out of her mind.

Water… Water… She focused hard, feeling as if she was onto something. She needed water. Literally, she'd die before the morning if she stayed as dehydrated as this, and already she could feel her energy draining. _Help me…_ May Belle prayed, shivering.

When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer at Watership Down. She was just a short walk down a path off the base of the hill, to where she saw… Yes! A stream, running just along the spot where a small hill sloped off, filled her vision. Before her mind had fully returned to where her body sat, she was already on her feet, sputtering coughs that filled the night air.

Sparrow grunted as he slept heavily, sighing in his sleep and inching along in the dirt floor of his burrow. He didn't stay asleep for long, though, because he had hardly gotten into it when he felt a kick on his hind legs. He was immediately up.

"What!" Sparrow demanded, looking around in the darkness. The only one there was a startled Yale, who looked back at him innocently. Sparrow narrowed his eyes. "Yale, damn you, why would you do that?"

"Can't you hear it?" asked Yale as if she were some great mystic rabbit. She looked as if she had been thrown across the room just a few moments ago, being still half asleep.

Not getting to an answer to his question, Sparrow stared down at the runt with growing anger and confusion. "Hear what, Yale?" he asked, deciding to take the bait as to whatever his sister was leading him towards.

"The girl, Sparrow. She's leaving the warren."

"That's lovely," chirped Sparrow, his voice dripping with false happiness. Then he turned toward the wall and mumbled, "Now, go away."

Yale nipped her brother's ear for his attention once more. "There's something wrong with her, though. Brother, she's going off on her own! What if she stumbles into a mess? Please, come with me to make sure she's alright."

Sparrow stared at the runt as if she had fallen from the sky. "Follow her? In the dead of night? You're off you're rocker, Yale. Get some rest, and maybe in the morning you'll be talking sense."

Yale pouted, upset by Sparrow's reaction, and looked toward the run that glowed faintly in the bent moonlight. That only made her more anxious to get out there. "I'm going whether you're with me or not."

"You wouldn't—" started Sparrow, but she was already gone.

Had it been anyone else, Sparrow would've turned back over and gone to sleep; but this was Yale. He couldn't leave one of his most trusted companions to go off into the world by herself like that. As he pulled himself after the hyperactive kitten, he realized how smart she was, her being well aware of how much he loved her. _I'll kill her for that._

By the time May Belle had even reached the stream, her vision had started to swim once more. She sat by the side of it to collect herself, dipping her fingers into the clean water as she stared dumbly down the slope she sat upon.

The wind was slow, but it came up the hill at her, sweeping back her hair and leaving her ears to register the noises that the night brought. Instead of a regular swishing sounds of animals in trees, however, she heard something more; something terribly frightening that made May Belle's arms quiver and her heart murmur.

"Mother! Mother! Can't you feel it?" asked a small voice from far away. May Belle looked up, alarmed. She was sure she'd heard something, and it was not just the whispers of the wind. Everything she knew began to scream that something was out there.

"Hello?" she tried to call out, but it was her dry throat that saved her cover, her voice only coming out in a whisper. No one heard the failed attempt to speak, so the voice stayed oblivious to May Belle's presence.

_Perhaps…_ May Belle considered when no response came. _Perhaps I'm hallucinating from dehydration? I might just be hearing things, hearing ghosts like mother did when she stayed sick in bed…_

At the remembrance of her mother, sick and dying, May Belle leaned over the stream and drank as long as she could, trying to turn her mind to something else. Water on her throat was a relief after going so long. She splashed it around her face in an attempt to bring down her temperature. Then she heard it again.

"No, mother!" came the voice louder. "I'm sure of it. This is where it happened."

May Belle could hear no response and see no owner of the voice. She only stared out over the hill as wind ran its fingers through her locks.

"Mother, Zile was attacked hear, I'm sure of it; I can see it… I can feel it."

The bushes began to rustle at the foot of the hill, and May Belle heard a snarl, as if replying to the voice.

"No… no… I can't explain it. But I can smell the blood in the wind. The ones that live here—the ones that brought him to his death—I can see now! They were…"

And then May Belle's blood seemed to stop running as out of the bushes stepped two figures. Two foxes: A long, withered gray one and a smaller red one. What she saw was only the half of her fright, though. It was what she heard…

"Rabbits!" continued the small fox, opening his eyes. "This sense that's told me so many things has come to me once more, and I swear to the moon that it was rabbits who killed my brother."

May Belle sat trembling, still crouching over the stream as she listened to the impossible fox speak. When the larger one spoke, it only growled and made noises expected of an animal.

"Yes…" agreed the small fox, cocking his ears. "They will pay. Zile had a good heart. Brother, rest your soul. We'll avenge for you. This I swear." May Belle's mouth opened wide like she might scream, and her vision began to turn spotted.

The little fox had the look of a thousand angry predators. "Let us attack at half-day tomorrow, Mother, whilst the prey be feeding. Let no rabbit on that hill survive." As the two began to run, May Belle's eyes began to pour tears in her worry.

Then her throat had a strange, warm but irritating, sensation, and she coughed into her hands automatically. Through what little vision she had left, May Belle was alarmed but what she saw: blood coming out from within herself as she coughed, trickling down into her hands.

The surprise and overwhelming knowledge of these two things she had not meant to discover was overwhelming, and in her state of wellness she couldn't seem to handle it. That's why, as she sat by the creek, crying and coughing up more blood, she slipped from consciousness once more and fell into the stream, her mouth and nose becoming flooded.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

**Does anyone dare disagree that I am very mean when writing this story? Cause I'm pretty sure I am. Anyways, I'm sorry that there was an irritating lack of action and dialogue in this chapter, and I don't know how well it was written out. I guess I'm kinda out of it when writing for May Belle, cause I don't think I've updated for two or three months. Okay, maybe not that long, but it's been a while. Thank you so much for waiting, and, if this chapter is as horribly terribly disgraceful to my name as I expect all of my work is (I'm paranoid, don't blame me), than I'm really sorry. The truth is, I've had writer's block. I mean, I know what the ending's gonna be, but I didn't know how I'm gonna get there, because with my original idea, it made May Belle look really… pitiful, like she had to have the rabbits take care of her and she did nothing in return. Not anymore. I can promise that!**

**Anyways, if anyone's confused, I'll go over a few things. If you don't understand the foxes, I tried to make it clear that they were the mother and brother of the fox that attacked Fiver and May Belle in the earlier chapter, and the younger one that's talking has a sixth sense as well. And about the blood thing: May Belle was coughing up blood. I've done a lot of research into diseases that can be caused by homelessness, and I kinda liked the thought of May Belle having Tuberculosis (that's murder to spell, by the way.) Also, I'm a freak for Edgar Allan Poe, and that was the disease that had killed off his entire family, wife, and I believe some of his children as well, but I'm not sure. If you read some of my other stories you'd see that alot of them drip with references to Poe...  
**

**Okay, so, please tell me what you think of the last chapter. And if you hate the way that I'm taking this story, tell me! All reviews are accepted. I could go on for pages about how great reviews make me feel, but I'm trying to put this up early today so that I can catch the British people who read this before it gets too late over there. So, I'm gonna end it now with this: I am supremely sorry about how long I took to update this, and that the writing here wasn't up to most of the other chapter. I promise that next chapter will be up faster and written better. Even though I ask this of you too much, please bear with me. Ciao!**


	11. Chapter 11

It seemed that, for the next thousand years, there was only darkness and silence for Sparrow and Yale. They were in a complete trance of terror as their entire safe and secure worlds were knocked aside a substituted with a sense of danger, responsibility, and, most importantly, reality.

This is terrible, concluded Sparrow as he tried to fit this square of knowledge into his circle of understanding. Only after a near thirty seconds did he remember where he was, and what the problem presented itself to be. "May Belle," he muttered, as if those were the magic words to provide his friend with help.

Yale was sobbing for both her warren, and for the young teenager clad in overalls that lay there choking on water. "Sparrow? What are we to do now?"

Sparrow comforted his sister wit a nudge and then went forward to the girl. "Anything we can do. This is Frith's willing, but it's our decision. We can give up and cry, or risk it all in trying to help." Already, Sparrow was trying to push May Belle over, although feeling not half as bold as his words were.

"Will she be okay?" asked Yale, beginning to help her brother to turn to the skinny girl over.

Sparrow paused for only a moment before responding. "Yes," he said with all the promise he could. "We'll do anything we can," he spoke with a deep conviction. "I promise."

* * *

Todd Covern sat in his house, hearing no noises besides his dog shuffling against the floor, both of them sad eyed and full of regret.

All the lights had been switched off for good, Todd having not paid the electric bill. His eyes were glazed over as he tossed aside yet another emptied alcoholic drink can. His dog looked up at him, as if asking why, and Todd responded with a sigh.

"I wanna leave the world, see, boy?" he said, his speech mangled. "I don't wanna feel regret for what's been happening. First Amanda's taken by that horrible sickness, then May Belle runs away. Then I rid myself of me own son. I don't know how much more I can take." Todd pressed himself against the glass of the window and stared at the moon, waiting silently.

For perhaps fifteen minutes he sat with the alcohol slowly claiming his mind and the fox terrier beneath him moaning in a grief he did not understand. Then it came. Exactly what Todd was waiting for: The moon slipping behind a cloud and the world going completely dark.

"Now's the time, then," he said, heaving his sack onto his shoulder and fumbling his way towards the door.

The dog moaned, and Todd looked at it with a slightly irritated, but mostly apologetic, glance. "Forgive me, boy, but I can't take you along. Don't have room for a kennel for you on a train. I'm sure when they find you, you'll be brought to another home…" Todd stopped short on this sentence, realizing what would really happen to this dog when officials found him. Instead of hanging on this thought, though, he let it be absorbed into his floating world of intoxication and smiled, patting the dog on the head. "Good luck, then, pup."

The dog, who seemed to see his fate coming as well, looked at his master, feeling betrayed and broken. Todd didn't let himself care, though. He just kept on pushing himself, sucking on his teeth as he turned the knob.

With that, Todd Covern stepped onto his porch and closed the door, peeking inside for one last glance at the place that had once been his home, where he'd been happy, surrounded by a loving family.

"Good luck."

* * *

Sparrow was running faster than he'd ever run before, his heart still pumping in his chest faster than a million hrududil. Little relief came after they had turned May Belle over, and, by leaping onto her stomach as they had once seen their father do to help a nearly drowned rabbit, got her to vomit up the water. Now he and his sister had bigger things to tackle.

In the end, Yale had agreed to stay with May Belle for the night while Sparrow ran to warn the warren of the foxes' soon-to-come arrival, but it was a dangerous world out there for two little kittens.

Sparrow was completely oblivious to the world around him as he barreled through the bushes and stumbled across a clearing. Now the Down was in sight, humble and peaceful as it was. He sighed with relief. All he'd have to do now was get there and wake everyone up—warn them of the definite danger to come, so that they'd be able to—

At that point, the only thing that could've brought Sparrow out of his thoughts was the set of talons that clamped onto his back. An owl screeched in triumph as the ground slipped away from Sparrows paws. The grip was getting tighter and tighter, and no matter how hard he tried, Sparrow could not seem to scream loud enough as panic overpowered his determination. Finally, the pressure became too much for him. Sparrow's home, the one that he had only just begun to create a life in, was the last thing he saw before he dropped into an endless sleep from which he would never wake.

Yale stared up at the sky, hearing the tortured screams of some animal faintly beneath May Belle's sickening coughs. She barely reacted to it anymore than that, though, as she pushed herself up against May Belle and whimpered in her throat. All throughout the night the process repeated for the girl—sleep, turn over, and cough up blood, again and again. And all Yale could do was worry.

She huddled beside her good friend, closing her eyes and muttering a silent prayer before letting a sleep, one that trusted both her brother to get to the warren and May Belle to stay beside her, take over her. "Frith, protect us…" she sighed as she, just a May Belle, too, dropped off into sleep that she could only pray would last.

* * *

Watership Down was silent as a gravesite that morning, everyone either holding their breath in hopes the May Belle would return, or simply grieving for the loss of a friend.

Fiver, who couldn't eat if he had tried, pretended to browse through the grass like he hadn't noticed May Belle's absence. As a concerned Hazel approached him, a shuddered ran through Fiver's body as he tried to gain control of himself.

"Fiver?" asked Hazel, pressing against his brother and walking alongside. "Will you be alright?"

Fiver looked up at Hazel, blinking away tears, but pretending to be surprised. "Yes, of course, why do you ask?"

"Well, about the whole…" but Hazel stopped short, looking down as he nosed his brother comfortingly. He choose his words extremely carefully before continuing. "May Belle situation?"

At the sound of her name, all of Fiver's defenses dropped. "I…" he gasped for breath before looking up at Hazel in grief. "I just wish that she'd… that she's said goodbye."

"Here, now," said Hazel softly. "Perhaps things will look up. It might not be all bad."

Fiver didn't answer. Instead, he just closed his eyes and crouched there in the shaggy grass, his breathing soft. Hazel figured his brother needed to be alone to think, as he seemed to a lot, and allowed himself to leave.

Fiver opened his eyes only after a few moments, staring at the sky, muttering words under his breath inaudible to even his own ears. His vision itself even seemed to fail him as it danced with blood in the light of near ni-Frith.

***

May Belle was awake. She was wide eyed and worried as she looked around, everything coming back to her. "My God," she muttered, beginning to try to pull herself up. Beside her, a small, light-colored kitten stretched and looked up at her.

May Belle wasn't sure whether or not the kitten could understand her, but she figured that there was no harm in trying. "Hello," she said softly, looking down at the kitten. When the kitten nodded, but made little effort to react, she blinked twice, trying to remember why she was here and what was going on.

The thing twittered nervously, almost anxiously, but to May Belle, all it could do was make rabbit noises.

"What's wrong?" asked May Belle.

That was when it hit her: the foxes. She remembered everything. _Oh my God, they're going to attack Watership Down. _

"The foxes," said May Belle, answering her own question, and the little rabbit looked pained. She was on her feet, though feeling woozy, and her vision swimming for a few moments, but she didn't care. "They're in trouble, they all are. We've got to go help them!"

Yale tried to stop May Belle, but it was no use. "Stop!" the kitten cried. "We're to stay clear of the Down, Sparrow already took care of things!"

May Belle jumped a bush, and Yale had to bolt to keep up. The girl caught a glance of the sun as she looked up, and her heart crawled into her throat: it was midday. She was too late.

One moment, the down had been peaceful and quiet, just as Fiver liked it. No wind carried throughout the down as he crawled through the grass trying to find something to take his attention, when a growl sliced through the day like a dagger, and even before he'd looked up, Fiver was surrounded.

May Belle reached the bushes on the foot of the hill and nearly dropped dead at the sight: Fiver, with five foxes (the two she had seen yesterday must've called in for reinforcements) surrounding him.

"You…" snarled Kip, the little fox with the far sight. His speech was slightly mangled, as he found trouble in pronouncing words correctly over his still growing, sharp teeth.

Fiver looked straight into the small fox's eyes, terror played out on his face. Nearly the whole warren had run into the burrows now; all except Bigwig, Hazel, Hyzenthlay, Vilthuril, and Kehaar, who all stared fearfully at the sight. Hazel opened his mouth as if he might scream for his brother, but no sound came.

"You killed my brother?" continued the fox as May Belle gripped a tree so hard that her knuckles turned white, wanting so much to do something, but feeling so stranded.

"Your brother?" repeated Fiver back to the little fox. "I've no idea what you're talking about…"

Detta, the small fox's mother, snapped at Fiver, and the rabbit jumped forward nearly a foot, out of her reach. Now, though, he was even closer to Kip, the one who'd been talking to him all along.

Kip swiped at an unprepared Fiver, pinning him to the ground with one paw. "I have no time for games," he shouted as Fiver began to panic. "Did you, or didn't you take part in my brother's demise?"

"I did!" screamed Fiver from under the weight of the fox, trying to squirm away. He hadn't meant to say that, for he almost certainly expected it to get him killed, but the claws were digging into him and the pressure on his body was enough to blind him from sense. "Get off of me," the little buck demanded, even though he knew it was a foolish thing to hope. Fiver tried helplessly to bite at the fox's paw, but, to his disappointment, found that he couldn't even do this.

One of the foxes grabbed a helpless Fiver by the scruff, dangling him in midair. The five predators had not planned taking so long to fulfill their plan, but they found that this was just too much fun for a quick kill.

"Then you shall suffer just as he did," said Kip lowly, as if this were amusing and serious all at once, and fast as lightning, he took Fiver in his jaws and tossed him in the air, expecting to catch the innocent thing and sever it's head between his teeth.

This was what Fiver expected, too, but, instead of coming down into a clamp of teeth ripping into his flesh, he landed in a pair of hands.

May Belle's hands.

The foxes snarled at May Belle, who had just erupted from the bushes, although they were taken back.

"Man!" shouted one, only understandable to Fiver's ears.

"Does it have a gun?" asked another.

"No, I don't think so," it responded.

Kip growled. "Get it!"

Hearing this, May Belle jumped, not being able to avoid a slash to the heel, and broke out of the circle that she was cornered in.

Kehaar, who was fast in a time of battle, saw his opportunity and swooped down and grabbed hold of Fiver as if he were a fish. He didn't make it very far before plummeting to the ground because of the weight, but in the least he got Fiver away. Hazel, relieved, though nearly in tears himself, ran to his brother and brought him even further back, away from the foxes that almost certainly would've killed him. Fiver, still terror-stricken, did not resist.

May Belle breathed deeply and turned to face the five foxes, who all looked back at her with a hate unlike any other. "Man…"

May Belle, no longer as brave as she had been when she charged out of the bushes, blinked back tears. "No," she said to Kip. "You're wrong."

"Don't try to deceive us!" it threatened. "We know you're type. You're a man. Perhaps you can hear me speaking," Kip acknowledged, "but that doesn't mean you're anything special. You're still just a man."

Tears slid down May Belle's face. "I am _not_ a man. At least, not on the inside." She balled her fists and stood as protector to Watership Down and all friends who had helped her so much. "_This _is my family, and I won't let you hurt them."

Kip began to chuckle lightly, but it gradually got louder and wilder. By the time he paused for breath, it had turned into a full-blown insane laugh. "You've no idea what you're saying! Do you really think that you could be accepted by rabbits? Learn to be one of them? Do you think they actually _want _you here?"

Something from behind May Belle came barreling down the hill in such a blur, Kip didn't have time to move away. "We do want her here!" shouted Bigwig, snapping at the fox's throat.

Kip seemed to take this attack as a joke. He laughed once more and slashed at Bigwig, knocking him aside into a bush, where he groaned and cursed under his breath.

"Enough talk," growled Kip, approaching May Belle, who couldn't back away, or else she would lead this fox closer to the rabbits. "I will kill you quickly, and then deal with your little _family_ once you're dead."

May Belle narrowed her eyes, and, seeing that Kip was within distance, swung a blind kick at him. He ducked easily and maneuvered to come back round and bite May Belle on the calf. Hard.

May Belle lost her balance immediately as she began to bleed. She stumbled, landing on her back, the foxes taking up their opportunity to swarm her. "Just as I told you," growled Kip. "Nothing special."

But May Belle didn't hear him. The world seemed to come apart beneath her fingertips as she listened to something within herself. Her blue eyes were wide as a voice in her head began to boom, rattling her skull as if it were hosting a game of racquetball.

"_Be cunning,_" advised the voice of what she could only assume was God himself, if not an angel, "_and full of tricks, and your people shall never be destroyed._"

One of the foxes opened its mouth and lunged at her throat, but all it got was a mouthful of soil. May Belle was already back up and running.

The group stalked her as she ran to the edge of the clearing and grabbed a long stick, using it to fend off the foxes. One of them howled as she pummeled it over the head, and they began to back away.

Detta lunged at May Belle, taking the stick in her mouth and growling, May Belle knocked her back by putting all her weight forward, poncing towards the withered mother fox and landing atop her, swiftly breaking the beast's with a snap of her wrists.

Much to her dismay she heard a fox approach her from either side, blocking her off so that she could not run. Holding her breath, she pretended not to notice until—BAM! They both jumped at her, and she ducked, letting them bash heads with each other and roll to the side. Seeing her opportunity there, she promptly swung her feet over and blocked off their airways by putting pressure on their necks.

At this point, Hazel and Fiver had sprung into action, and they took the already wounded fox by shredding into its airway (with great dissiculty), and it, too, fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

By now, Bigwig had recovered and was back on to attack Kip, but the runt was either lucky or trained, because he kept fending off Bigwig. "Stop it!" cried the little fox, whose mood had changed abruptly once he'd found that he was losing the battle. Now he was fearful, and even a bit of innocence was in his voice as he begged, "Don't hurt me!"

"Right, like I'm gonna do that, considering how good you've been to us," said Bigwig, fighting at Kip.

From the way Kip had acted earlier, you would've thought that he was aged and had grown hard from years of hurt, but now, seeing him without his attitude and army, it was quite clear that he was maybe only a year old, if not younger. The little fox wept helplessly, shaking as if it were cold.

"Mother! Zile!" he shouted, calling for the only two that had been there all his life. As unlike Bigwig as it was, the buck flinched and slowed his attack to halt, his paw still in the air, ready to kill at any moment.

Sympathizing for the little creature and knowing first hand the feeling of losing a mother, May Belle rashly and instinctively came closer and leaned forward to the little fox. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing for her to do, and she knew that, but she felt that she couldn't turn down someone going through the pain that she knew all too well.

"They're dead," she said softly to him, but that only made him cry harder.

Through his tears, he muttered, "I can't live on without them. No! No! NO! I wasn't supposed to lose them. I didn't want them to get hurt. How did this happen? I warned him not to go, but he did!"

Without thinking, May Belle reached forward and took the fox's face into her hands to get it to look into her eyes, but that was a mistake.

"You KILLED THEM!" it screamed, jumping forward onto her, pinning her down by her shoulders and scratching a long, deep scratch down her thigh with his back leg, and bit her hand that she tried to use to defend herself. Perhaps, had she been at full strength, May Belle would've been able to knock the fox onto her, but her arms were weak, and her fever was once again rising.

May Belle was screaming, now terrified, wondering how it was possible that she had killed three of these things already. Worse yet, she began to cough again, too, turning her head to the side and coughing up another mouthful of blood.

"YOU KILLED THEM YOU SAVAGE BEAST! I'LL BEAT THE BLOODY INLE OUT OF YOU, YOU—YOU—"

Bigwig cut him off by head butting into him once more, knocking it up the hill where the others stood. Fiver, angrier and more terrified than ever before in his life, silenced the runt fox forever with a swipe, feeling so filled up with vengeance towards the thing for harming something that he held so near and dear to his heart.

But the damage had been done, and May Belle lay there, at the foot of the hill once more, crying and bleeding, shaking and coughing all at once.

"May Belle," said Fiver, turning instinctively, trying to run to her to help, but Hazel held him back.

"Hazel," shouted Fiver, squirming to break free. "Let me go!"

Now Hazel was crying, too. "Fiver, I'm sorry, but I don't think there's anything we can do. Look at her."

"No, we can—"

"Look at her, Fiver!"

Fiver fell silent as he obeyed, losing all will to struggle. May Belle was silently crying as well, still perfectly conscious and watching her friend through her misty eyes. The claw marks were bad; really bad. One was on her chin and went down her shoulder, while another was down her leg, and even her hand was still bleeding. There was no way should could survive a week with those wounds without medical treatment. No way.

"Everything lives, Fiver, and everything dies. I'm sorry, but we can't save her."

Fiver stamped his foot and turned to his brother. "Why do you choose now to be as pessimistic and dull as Hawkbit!" he shouted.

"I heard that!" came a voice from the burrows.

Ignoring this, Fiver pressed on. "We still can save her. There has to be some way! She can't die! She won't!" He trembled, crying like a kitten.

"I'm sorry, brother."

Fiver turned away from Hazel, still crying and fearing the future more than someone like him should have to. "I'm sorry, too."

May Belle rolled over to face Fiver, ignoring the stinging of her torn skin, and smiled a thin smile, looking down.

Fiver's eyes shone as he said it once more. "I'm sorry…"

XXXX

**First, so no one is nervous, I'll say this loud and clear. THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! There'll be one or two more, and possibly an epilogue (I'll leave the decision on whether or not I should write and epilogue up to you guys ^_^). Also, the way things are looking at the moment; don't worry about that either. I still have some twists left (and it's gonna stay true to the book, at that.) **

**Sorry about the wait, too. I wrote this over the course of a few days, but most of it was actually all written this morning, when I woke up REALLY early and typed… for three hours… but I can now have a clear conscience that I got in every mental image that I had in my mind for this chapter (that I got last night while listening to the song "Mother" by Tori Amos. That song, as I have decided, is the theme song for May Belle, and I'll explain why in the last chapter. See if you can figure out why yourself, though, I'm curious to see if it's as obvious as I think it is, or if I'm just insane…).**

**Alright, so reviews are greatly appreciated, and I accept constructive criticism. Please, please, please tell me what you thought of this chapter. While I typed it, I had thought, "Whoa, this is amazing," but now that I'm rereading it, I have to wonder… Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope to get the next update soon. I do believe this was the climax of the story, but I'm not all that for falling action… so let's just keep up the suspense and action for another chapter or so, eh? **

**Ciao!!!**

**-Amy XD **

**P.S: I'm listening to the song "Mother" right now. It's so much like May Belle's that it's kinda scary. **


	12. Chapter 12

From there on, things could only seem to get worse for the Down. The weather began to turn sour, and by four in the afternoon, a thunderstorm had moved in not three miles from the wounded warren.

May Belle listened to the rattling of the earth, almost being able to feel the vibrations—the unbearable, intense heat—within her as she floated back and forth, in and out of consciousness. Sometimes, when she came back to, she'd find Fiver crouching beside her, his small body trembling, his open mind racing, and his kind heart breaking.

True, Fiver was turning plans over in his head in a desperate attempt to save May Belle, thinking over and over that this couldn't be it—that there had to be some ancient trick, some small chance of her survival that he had just been overlooking, but it couldn't be helped. The small buck had no idea what was to be done.

Then something drilled through the silence. May Belle—who, last Fiver checked, had been unconscious—coughed up more blood and, like a proper lady should, turned over to spit it out into the grass. She took a breath and closed her eyes, managing to sit up. She, too, had been thinking, but of different things. "Fiver?"

The buck sat up and looked at his friend, clenching and unclenching his jaw in an unsure gesture that only clarified the fact that he was listening.

May Belle smiled at him and slid her closed fist to him alongside the ground as if it were a parcel. "Take this," she ordered, exposing her palm to show a good amount of golden chain with a charm on it. A half-heart.

"Your mother's?" asked Fiver, dumbstruck by this offering. "I… I don't…"

May Belle's response came out in a sort of rush.

"I want you to keep it for me. I may not speak rabbit, but I'm not an idiot. They're all talking about it, aren't they? How I'm not going to be here much longer. Well, I guess that it's true, and I want you to have it for the sentiment of it—you know. Just so that I leave something to let you remember how much I—"

Fiver's ears pricked up as she stopped short. May Belle felt tears welling up in her eyes, and then sliding down to cross path with her smile as she shook her head. "How much I love you, Fiver."

"Frithrah!" said Fiver, touched at the same time as amused.

May Belle nudged the buck enough to cause him to lose his balance and laughed. "God, you know what I mean. Love you the way a best friend should." She paused a moment, her smile wavering. "I guess that's more of an appropriate word, then. You really are the best friend I've ever had." A few more tears rolled to the ground, but could have easily been disguised by the raindrops that began to pound down on the earth in ones and twos, each individual drop sounding like a sack of meat striking the surface upon impact.

Fiver nosed at the necklace for a few moments, managing to get the loop around him enough to be able to bring it with him once he left. Then he looked up at the sky, and back at his friend, who watched him through her wide, icy blue eyes.

"You go in," she told him before he could add anything in, and Fiver obeyed with a mournful look.

The girl lay down and stayed still, listening to pat-pat of Fiver's paws as he left her, the necklace tinkling along as he went.

With a sigh of content, she relaxed and let her eyes close.

Slowly, and for a few moments undetectably, the grass beneath her began to fade, before altogether disappearing and being replaced by air. Startled upon realizing this, May Belle sat up quickly, looking around and drawing in a gasp. She was gone, now, a mere floating spirit in a dream world. Before her stood a figure that continued to flicker, sometimes an animal of some sort (a lot of times it switched to a rabbit), but seemed to settle most commonly on man; his face forever changing.

For a few moments, she was confused. What was happening, and how did it come to be? But it didn't take her at all long to realize it for herself.

_This is it_, thought May Belle, standing up and trying to show bravery through her tears. _I must be dying_.

May Belle kneeled before him, trembling as she tried not to weep. Red hair fell into her face, which was a bit rum to her, considering that, last she'd checked, it had been a strawberry blonde and short as ever.

The man that looked down upon her had a kind face that crinkled as he smiled, giving off an air of kindness and wisdom. He moved a hand slightly and waved it in a releasing movement, letting her know that she shouldn't be afraid, though this only made May Belle's heart pound more. After collecting her thoughts for a few good moments, the girl spoke.

"My Lord," whispered she from behind her curtain of red locks. There was a buzz of silence in the air as she paused, tensing as she silently sighed. "I'm ready."

***

Fiver needed to give no explanation for the necklace as he rested it in the pathway of his burrow; if it wasn't May Belle's scent coming off the thing that gave away the whole story, it was Fiver's wide, determined stare that did it.

In fact, Fiver was thinking. He sat next to the necklace, feeling a sort of warmth coming off of it in waves. Something had begun to play in his mind; a glimmer of hope. The start of an idea.

Tonguing his teeth nervously, Fiver concentrated on the idea, fighting not to lose it. For a moment, it seemed to fade, until…

Fiver's vision went fuzzy, the burrows around him turning a shade of red. He gasped as it came to life in front of him: the rhythm of the earth below making time with his pounding heart and fast breath. The world around him was a blur, as if set to life by watercolor, and the ground shattered as small explosions came to be surrounding him, narrowly missing the terrified buck as he ran.

Then he was back in the burrow, gasping for air and blinking fast.

Fiver knew what to do.

***

The bottom of the sun had just reached the horizon as Kevin Cane woke up on a hangover. For a few moments, he was disoriented, trying to remember where he was and why he'd been drunk. Slowly, though, he recalled his parents and Lucy having gone to the market. He and his two friends, Brian and Kaleb, had taken up the opportunity to pull out the booze, and there had been a lot.

"Aww, man," muttered Brian, groaning as he began to stir. True, he had been awake for quite a while, but didn't have the endurance against his headache to actually move until he had the motive of Kevin's awakening. "I feel so _wasted_, man."

Kevin nodded, sitting up groggily. "Where's Candy, then?"

Kaleb snorted, having been one to restrain himself from too many drinks. "She left before we crashed, dude."

"Did she?"

"Yeah," agreed Brian, sitting up against the couch. He was about to add something else when a noise came ringing through the air.

Kevin cocked a brow and turned his pounding head to look out the window. "Good God, what is that?"

It was the noise of a chain rattling from the distance. Outside, the farm's dog had begun to fight its way past the chain's length, something probably having set it off.

For a short while, Kevin blindly listened to ruckus; his only thought of it was that it was hurting his head more than it should. Then he blinked and stood up.

"Probably something out there…" he said, looking from Brian, to Kaleb, before turning to the coat closet. Reaching his hand to the back of a high shelf—one well out of Lucy's reach—he produced a shotgun (the one that his father used to keep vermin from the crops).

"You gonna shoot the thing?" asked Brian, standing up and shaking his head.

"Got to," replied the blond boy, loading the gun before slinging it over his shoulder. "Can't have it tearing up the garden. Some of them crops ain't been harvested yet."

From outside, the dog snarled as it barked louder, giving the alarm to the Heavens.

"Oi, I hear you," shouted Kevin as he threw open the door. Kaleb and Brian followed close behind him, deciding it'd be better to get in on the action rather than waiting around for their mate.

The dog strained on the rope and snarled violently, digging his claws into the ground as he strained to get to a soaked-to-the-bone Fiver, who sat in plain view in before him, quiver as he might. All he could do was hold his breath, knowing that, at any moment, the wood of the doghouse could give way, and then nothing would stop this almost unrealistically huge black Labrador from attacking.

His ears pricked as he heard the sound of rusted hinges scraping against one another, and feet walking out onto the damp ground.

"Hey, man, check that out!" muttered Brian, pointing towards the small brown rabbit just a few meters away from where they stood. It kneeled in front of the doghouse, keeping its head down low as if waiting for its fate.

"It is sick or something?" came Kaleb from behind the two.

Kevin shrugged, pointing the gun. "It will be very soon." He aimed, but, finding his off vision and pounding headache distracting, discovered he couldn't quite decipher exactly what part of the mass to hit, as it continually seemed to flicker. For an instant, he considered handing the gun to Brian, but quickly decided against this, knowing both that it would make him look weak, and Brian with a loaded gun would be extremely dangerous.

There was the sound of thunder, but no lightning. Fiver near jumped out of his skin at the boom, and when a soaring black rock landed between his two front paws, he jumped and ran down the path, but making a show of almost mockery. Anything to get the men to follow him.

"Oi, there it goes," muttered Kaleb, who figured that, now that the thing was gone, they could all go back to whatever they'd been doing. The gun had been making him a bit uncomfortable.

Kevin arched his brow, a bit angry as he saw the rabbit stumble off. True, it was going fast, but he could catch it. Probably.

"Come on," he said, running forward on his heavy work boots.

Brian and Kaleb exchanged nervous glances, but figuring that they had nothing better to do, took off after their friend with a gun.

Blackberry was angry as he crouched beside the stone path. Not so much was he angry at Fiver, but at the world that both he and Fiver stood on. He hadn't been thinking upon accepting Fiver's offer to help save the girl. Well, no, he _had_ been thinking, just not about the consequences.

Upon the realization that Sparrow had been killed the night before, Blackberry had been devastated. He'd wanted to honor his son's sacrifice—make it so that Sparrow hadn't died in vain. Of course, he hadn't lacked faith in Fiver when he'd told him and Dandelion, the two most familiar with the trick they were pulling, that they were needed to play a role in order to help May Belle. Although, having confidence in the plan wasn't easy.

As he sat there tensed in the bushes, he felt his instinct telling him to bolt. Tricking a dog into doing their bidding had been one thing, but men were entirely different. They were complex and savage. Random acts of violence weren't uncommon, as he'd observed, and it was near drilled into each rabbit's mind from birth to stay away from men. Who was he to defy that law?

With a few shaky breaths, he looked back over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the Down. It seemed like safety; like a way out of this madness. His gaze swung from the Down to the earth before him, thinking to himself that he didn't trust this plan. Fiver would get himself shot if someone didn't hold him down and talk, if not knock, sense into him. Perhaps it wasn't too late to save him, if he could just get help.

The buck closed his eyes, his black tips of ears dipping down before him as he muttered, "Frith, save us all," before turning and making a mad dash back to the warren in an attempt to save Watership's Down only mystic from dying a senseless death.

***

"Dude, did you _see_ that?" asked Kevin, not even believing his own eyes. "It's like this things playing games with us or something?"

His friends stayed silent, mouths open just a bit as they tried to comprehend what was going on. This runt they'd been chasing was obviously stupid, and thought so of them. It seemed to expect them to believe it had run in as a small brown rabbit, and come out as a longer golden one twice it's size. _If it could speak to us, I wonder what the thing would say_, wondered Kevin, eyes fixed on the bushes. _"Oh, don't mind that, I'm a fast eater!"_

Angry at his lack of understanding, Kevin fired a blind shot into the bushes, and, knowing that he'd hit nothing, pointed his gun back to the rabbit just up the path, which had slowed with some difficulty and turned to look back.

"I think we've come upon some suicidal rabbits," muttered Brian, seeing the thing not even bothering to run. He turned to see Kevin taking aim once more and spat at the ground, murmuring, "Please, Kevin, let's just leave. We've got better things to do than chase rabbits like a mindless animal."

ButKevin, who quite fit the description of "mindless animal," turned to look at his friend in frustration. "That's probably what they want, Brian. You know, trying to settle an old score for all rabbit's that've gone into the stew pot…"

That earned the fair-haired boy a curious stare. "What are you _talking_ about, man?"

He grumbled, seeing the other rabbit once again pick up its trot. "Come on!"

Fiver watched the three boys once again take off after his friend down the stone path, and sighed with relief. The handing off of the baited creatures had been troubling him a bit, for he suspected that suspicions would arise, but it'd been good luck that the men's seeming chief had an honor score to settle which he need not get any more mixed up in then he should have to.

With a quick turn, he bolted through the brush, intending to drop in on Blackberry and tell him that his part was rushing forward to meet him. The clever young buck fully expected to reach his friend sooner than Dandelion would, knowing that cutting through the vegetation was a quicker route than taking the gently snaking stone path, although what he'd find at his destination could never have been foreseen.

***

Hazel was running faster than he thought possible with a leg like his. His muscles were tense and his eyes were wide with fear as dirt was thrown into the air by his claws, thinking to himself that he had to save his brother. He had to save him.

Behind him was Bigwig, and a few other members of Owsla that their captain had selected, one of them being Blackberry. Each one of them was filled with a dread, having been told a rapid description of the trouble Fiver was in (excluding the one who told it, who had more dread than all of his partners put together).

Hazel stopped at the stone path, out of breath but far from out of determination. "We can't be sure…" he muttered, looking up and around nervously, "where he really is. We could launch a search along this man thing for him, but that risks contact with the men, which would be dangerous." He paused and cringed as another gunshot rang out. "I'm going to go along the path to find him myself. Bigwig, you bring scouts to look for him along the brush." His wide brown eyes darted from friend to friend.

Bigwig's mouth opened a bit in surprise. "Hazel?! You can't be serious. You'll get yourself shot with two hops out there."

"My brother is in there, and I'll do anything I can to get him out," said Hazel dangerously. Before Bigwig could say anything more, he turned and muttered, "He's saved my life more times than I can count. This is something I have to do."

Bigwig, heaved a sigh. "Right, you heard your chief. Move it!" he ordered.

***

Fiver was panicking. Already he could hear Dandelion approaching with the men hot on his trail, and Blackberry was nowhere to be found. He knew that just a little way up the path, May Belle lay dying. He was close, and the men were coming nearer with each step. Perhaps… perhaps he could lead them on the way that Blackberry was supposed to, and then seek an explanation for his friend's absence later.

So, on a final decision, Fiver braced in the grass and tried to calm his racing heart, attempting to get 12 hours worth of rest out of 12 seconds. When he looked up once more, Dandelion was just dodging in, not even having the time to give Fiver an odd look, only relieved that he still had all vital organs and limbs.

"Fiver," he breathed, half a question and half a signal. The little buck bolted, again not daring to look back, hearing the men behind him all mutter, laughing bitterly.

"This is messed up, man," muttered one, his pace slowing. "Isn't that the same rabbit that we started with?"

"They're playing something with us," said the other on with the gun. "But, unfortunately for them, I'm going to win."

Another black rock was whipped into the ground, this time much nearer to Fiver; so close that he could fell the vibrations in his whiskers. _Frith protect me._

Hazel heard the gentle beat of paws coming closer, which thrilled him, and chilled him at the same time. Hopes passed from his mind to his limbs that he'd found his brother, but the men were obviously nearby. He could smell that funny, biting scent that humans gave off when acting rather bizarre (as he's observed from a distance), but, hidden somewhere beneath the stench was his brother.

Turning on his hind legs, the chief swiftly backed into the bushes to watch safely, planning to spring out at the right moment and knock Fiver away from the danger and into the bushes before he reached the end of the line and they got in a good shot as he climbed the Down.

His plan, however, went wrong, for Fiver sensed that something was coming at him a moment before he was hit, and tried to propel himself forward with a mighty heave. However, Hazel collided with him a bit too early for this to be possible, so, instead, the two brothers went tumbling down the stone path with a not-quite-sober teenager having the power to end their lives with a single motion of the hand. All they could do was scream.

Kevin watched, not believing his eyes as a rabbit pounced out on the rabbit he'd been chasing, and the two of them went scrambling up until they stopped at the foot of that Down that he couldn't quite remember the name of. He smiled in satisfaction as both of the creatures tried to scramble over each other to escape his range, but getting into one another's way. Slowly, but surely, the two stopped struggling and became stupefied, watching him helplessly.

"Two birds with one stone," muttered Kaleb, watching the show with a tight smile, pitying the rabbits, but knowing that they shouldn't have been stupid enough to mess with them anyway.

Kevin laughed and took aim. "This is why humans are dominant," he said cruelly. He'd just begun to pull back the trigger when…

"Kevin!?"

Kevin looked up sharply, the shotgun shell narrowly missing the two creatures as they gaped, near ready to faint.

For a few moments, Kevin questioned his judgment. What he thought he was looking at was May Belle (or, at least a blond May Belle, but he'd recognize her face anywhere, she'd been at his house so many times)… but that wasn't possible, was it? No, she ran away weeks ago. Everyone had just assumed that she was dead, and Kevin was no exception. Now his ears and eyes were telling him that May Belle was there just atop that hill looking at him with disbelief in her eyes and—what was that? Fear? Fear of what?

"May… May Belle!?" He responded a bit timidly, his eyes wide as he gasped. Over time, May Belle had grown like another sister to him. And now here he found out that she wasn't dead, which wasn't exactly the easiest thing to take.

She didn't stand to run to him as he might've expected she would. In fact she didn't look pleased at all. Quite the opposite; she looked horrified. Her eyes were round with fright and her voice was weak and sick. No doubt something was wrong. No doubt he'd gotten there just in time.

Dropping the shotgun onto the ground with a clatter, the boy ran to his lost friend, kneeling beside her and helping her to sit up. "May Belle… you…"

May Belle shook her head to stop him here. "Kevin why did you come here?"

Kevin ignored the question altogether in one of those "you're an ignorant child so shut up and let me be superior to you" moments. He put a hand to her forehead, but quickly withdrew with a sinking feeling in his gut. "You're burning up! How long have you been up here?"

"Long enough, and I intend to stay," muttered May Belle, closing her eyes weakly.

Kevin gave her a rough shake of the shoulders. "You intend to stay? You're sick, battered and bloody! I mean, just look at yourself. I'm getting you help."

May Belle's hand shot up fast to grab Kevin's wrist. "No—you're—not!"

Despite May Belle's desperate pleas, Kevin had already made up his mind. He turned round to Brian and Kaleb, who stood a bit awkwardly as if now not knowing what to do with themselves, and shouted, "Oi! One of you run back to the house and phone an ambulance. Be quick, she'll die!"

That sent Brian, who, indeed, had met the girl once or twice, into a bit of a jump, and he and Kaleb turned round to make their way back to the farm top speed, for the order had been quite urgent… like a matter of life or death.

May Belle was gasping for breath, all the while muttering "No… no… no…" until Kevin couldn't take much more of that.

Gently, he took the girl's wrist and leaned down, whispering, "Listen, dear, I don't know what would make you want to stay in this Godforsaken place, but it can't be as important as this. I'd wager the farm that this is an act of God out of pity for a little lost girl. He sent me on a chase after some rabbits, see, and they brought me to this Down."

At the word "God," May Belle quieted and lay there stiffly, finally understanding something.

"Alright then, Kevin, give me some space."

"Eh?"

"Go wait at the bottom of the hill for that ambulance. Give me a moment alone."

Kevin, not wanting to argue with a dying friend, hastily stood up and retreated down to the stone path, sighing as he went.

May Belle blinked, feeling the rain light up to a soft drizzle. "Fiver?" she whispered, looking at the small rabbit staring up at her from just a ways downhill.

Fiver, biting his lip, made his way up with Hazel behind him, and one or two more rabbits (she didn't bother to count) came up behind those two.

May Belle gave Fiver a thoughtful look, although all she said was, "You brought them here?"

"I had to," whispered the little buck, shivering under the grief. Still, May Belle gave off a perfectly friendly aura, not seeming to love him any less because of this.

"I'm sorry. It was… for your best." He stopped and quivered as the girl said nothing.

Hazel comforted his brother, saying to him aloud for the spectators to hear, as well, "Say something to her, Fiver. Tell her from the whole Down… that she honestly is one of us."

The two looked up, only to find May Belle's sparkling eyes set on Hazel, looking at him thoughtfully. "Yes, he could do that…" she began, a smile breaking cross her face at all of her friends' looks of astonishment. "Or you could tell me yourself, _Hazel_."

There was a stunned silence, which May Belle promptly broke by giggling.

"M-May Belle? How…?"

The girl smiled broadly. "I had a dream, Fiver, with a man standing there. He was kind to me, took me by the hand and sat me down, telling me that he knew of my problem. He said to me that… that he didn't want my soul just yet, so he was sending help. I'd thought it was just a dream, but…" she shook her head, dizzy from straining this much on a light head.

"Anyways… then he pulled something out from behind his back, and it was that necklace I gave to you, Fiver! The very one that belonged to my mother. In his other hand was a little glowing gem—I don't know how I'd only taken notice to it then, but there it was! And he put it into the necklace, and then it dissolved right into me. For a moment, I'd been horrified. But then a chuckled and whispered, 'The gift stays with the Down.' And… and that was when I woke up…" Closing her eyes, she whispered, "I guess that's why. For a few minutes now I've been sitting here, listening to these rabbits talk." (At this point, she opened her eye slightly towards a guilty looking Hawkbit, who, she'd found, had some very interesting "opinions" on the whole situation.)

Now she lay back, exhausted.

Fiver's eyes shone brightly as thin tears rolled merrily down the side of his face, shaking his head and whispering, "You brilliant girl."

Hazel, feeling exposed now like someone finding out a private conversation had been recorded, sat back and held his tongue, only showing a look of happiness and keeping his brother, for whom his heart hadn't quite calmed down yet, close.

In the distance, a siren blared. May Belle turned her little blond head towards the noise, and her icy eyes followed the flashing lights as they came closer up the street just past the trees that surrounded her. Her smile was gone now, replaced by a look a fear and grief as she groped out for Fiver. "I don't want to go away."

"I don't want you to go away, either," whispered Fiver, "but you have to."

The girl looked down at Kevin, who stared at her expectantly, and they all listened quietly to the distant (but not near distant enough) voices of men as they got out of the trucks. Police had come to the scene, as well, a few talking to Kevin, a few staring at her as if they were questioning what they saw, wondering how a girl could have possibly come to surround herself with rabbits. And then, above all, there was the sickening squeaking of the stretcher's wheels as they were rushed over the mud toward that poor sick girl who was in desperate need of help.

They all watched in a terrified horror as the ambulance workers folded the wheels up and began to carry the stretcher up by hand. May Belle found the strength to sit up and gaze through her tears, looking at each and every rabbit that stared up at her, but finally stopping the search on Fiver, trying to hold back a sob. In a swift movement, she bent down fast and planted a kiss upon his head. "I'll miss you."

Then people began to crowd, and the world surrounding her swam in tight little patterns that she could not quite see as a whole. All around her, men and women alike were muttering stupid noises of encouragement under their breath as if they were dealing with a crazy (although, it probably didn't look too good that she was talking to rabbits).

Fiver was panicking. Many of his friends had already bolted down to the burrows, rabbit instincts having seized them from the chaos of all the men that had gathered round the girl. He hopped to the side, trying to avoid being stepped on, but in doing this, became lost. "May Belle!" he called, looking round, fearing.

And she answered him with a cracked, broken whisper. "Fiver!" She said nothing more as she was carried away.

For the next few minutes, the turmoil continued around the two friends, people constantly telling May Belle to relax, and she'd be in good hands soon. Although, as the group passed by a heavy-hearted looking Kevin, May Belle reached out and caught him by the shoulder. "Nothing happens to theses rabbits."

"What?" he asked, at first not understanding.

The carriers of the stretcher paused and listened curiously to the little girl's orders.

Yanking him a bit close, just to make it clear that she was totally serious, May Belle hissed at Kevin, "Nothing happens to these rabbits."

He nodded. "Alright, alright."

Relaxing a bit now, her hand slipped from the boy's shoulder and she was carried off once more by the adults that didn't understand what that was about… that could never understand what was happening to May Belle.

As Fiver watched from the top of the hill, half tucked in to the Honeycomb's entrance run, his eyes began to fill with tears at the sight of May Belle—someone that he'd loved and thought that he would never lose—was carried off, probably never to return. Beginning to make his way down the Honeycomb to escape the tumult of men constantly snapping photos and arguing with each other over something or another, he stopped suddenly in his spot and turned is head slowly. "Goodbye," he whispered softly.

She gasped for breath and looked around wildly at the ambulance that was her imprisonment. All around her were people rushing about, her being the main object at the moment, but, at the same time, none bothered to pay her any attention.

Beside her was a small, porthole-like window, out of which she could see the Down, standing tall and shining bright. The rabbits had all gone, the men probably having scared them off, but still she could feel a presence. Raising her hand to her necklace, May Belle whispered, "Goodbye," before lying back and closing her eyes, allowing herself to bare her teeth and cough up more blood, keeping her shoulders tensed to protect herself like a proper rabbit should. "Goodbye, little rabbit."

And that was how May Belle left Watership Down.

XXXX

***sobs* I'd say that the hardest thing for an author to do is to end a story. Like, seriously, this is only the second of 10 fics that I've actually completed... Anyways, about the story: I'm going to add an epilogue sometime soon which gives a final answers on what's happened for May Belle from here. I'm extremely sorry about how long I've taken to add this final chapter. Between procrastination and rewrites, time did add up, so my apologies to everyone I've kept waiting! As always, please leave a review. Seriously, PLEASE! Ugh, that's about all I can think to say, besides that I'm planning a sequel, although more on that later. Well… okay then, that's about it. Oh, and, who'da thunk? This chapter was written while I listened to random Bob Marley songs about peace, love, and happiness. A bit ironic, eh?**

**Ciao! And thanks for reading, everyone whose stuck around this long (it's been almost a year XD)**

**~Amy**


	13. Epilogue

Perhaps you should think, dear reader, that—now that this story is drawing to a close, now that things are the way they were, the way things _should_ be, _have_ been, and always _will _be, there is no more to tell. But you're wrong. There is always more to be told, but, sadly, it all depends on the eagerness of the teller as to whether or not the story shall reach its fabled ending.

May Belle never really did leave the Down. Although, she may not be there in whole as a consciousness, she left behind—and if you were to ask around, almost everyone would agree—a bit of a shadow. An imprint, per se, like a warm breeze on a cold day or whisper of hope in the darkest of times. Everyone could feel this. But Fiver felt it most strongly. For days after May Belle left, he felt her presence in the air. That… and something else—like a song that sounded like May Belle, but was entirely different in its own, similar way. Unsure of what it was, he sat one night in the summer air, thinking hard, trying to see a light to his endless questions, but only coming up blank.

The buck shook his head and closed his eyes, the laughter of kittens filling his ears as he gave a sigh. "Shall I ever know if she's alright?" He said this as a kind of question to anyone lending an ear, or giving another thought to a small rabbit such as him. The last thing he expected, though, was a response.

Upon opening his eyes, Fiver felt a new charge, as if something had changed, and it was clearly changing for him.

Sitting a short ways across the Down from him was someone else. Someone he did not recognize. Blinking in disbelief, Fiver realized he was looking at a woman.

She was young with a kind face, but a deep sadness in her eyes, so heart wrenching and grief stricken as she watched the rabbits surround her. No one else seemed to see her, which, at first, Fiver found odd. Of course, their were plenty of things that Fiver could see that no on else could, so why opt now to be surprised?

Then their eyes locked, a kind of wordless summoning for the buck, and she radiated a welcoming smile that drew him nearer to her. Although Fiver sensed no danger, he was still unsure of coming close, and it took him quite a few minutes—more than a rabbit could count—for him to ease in close, finally sitting beside her in complete silence and looking out to the horizon.

After what seemed like an eternity, a thought came to Fiver's mind, and he looked into the woman's eyes mournfully, whispering to a point that anyone would have to strain to hear. "You're her mother, aren't you?"

The woman didn't seem phased at all by his speculation. She just lowered her gaze (_Blue eyes!_ realize Fiver) and nodded, bottom lip quivering. A thick layer of silence lingered, almost to the point of suffocation, until Fiver shook his head and scratched at one of his ears with a back leg.

"Do you know… is she alright?" the buck asked when they'd fallen back into a wretched noiselessness. "Did she… survive?" He flinched upon hearing himself ask.

After yet another bottomless void of a calm stillness, the woman wrinkled her nose, much the way May Belle would, and brushed away a tear. "She did, Fiver, she's gotten so much better."

Fiver gave a sigh of relief, still feeling a static tension in the air as Amanda remained staring into the distance, almost entranced by everything unsaid.

"I'm… I'm sorry that this happened to her," whispered Fiver in remorse. "I never wanted for her to get hurt, and then she fought for me." What he said only began to show what he felt though. In all honesty, he felt so much shame welling up inside of him that it felt like he would explode.

That led to the blonde woman snapping to attention, a fire in her eyes as she gave a look of shock. "Fiver! You're not suggesting this is your fault."

Now it was Fiver's turn not to answer.

Amanda clicked her tongue with a wry smile "I don't blame you for _anything_, dear," she said, so clear and cutting that Fiver could feel himself shrinking five sizes, knowing that this woman knew more than she'd let on.

Then he straightened out again, knowing that this was no time to melt. He had questions that needed to be answered, and it was now or never.

"And what will become of her when she's well again? I know of what's happened to her brother. Will she…?"

Amanda raised a hand to her heart at the thought of her son, and Fiver could feel similar pangs of empathy, but still, he kept quiet, letting the grieving mother answer in her soft, shaky voice: "She… May Belle won't be s-sent away like Tyler. There have been arrangements for her to go live with my brother out in London."

"London?" asked Fiver, letting that sit in front of him for a stupefied moment. "Where's that?"

Time seemed to go into a tharn state as the words came in a jumble, mixing in with every other misfortune that makes up this world. "Far away."

Fiver's jaw pinched together tight, breath held in until he released it slowly, through his teeth. "I'll never see her again, then?"

He received only another knowing smile, but it came without fanfare. "Why choose now to be pessimistic?"

That earned a short but appreciative grunt from the buck.

But Amanda did not respond to this. She turned her eyes up to the sky, feeling a breeze weave through her honey blonde hair. "As for Tyler… well, Greggy is still trying to track him down." Then she looked back and answered the buck's blank look by adding in, "My brother…" She bit her lip, dropping back into thought before closing her eyes to block off her tears. "I fear that, if they don't find my son soon, he'll be coming to join me." She sniffed. "I just know it."

"How could they have lost him?" wondered a perplexed Fiver aloud, but Amanda only shook her head.

"It's a bit complicated, and I'm not up to explaining it now. I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, dear… I'm sorry." Then she stood up abruptly. "I must be on my way now."

"Where will you go?"

"Oh, to look after May Belle, see to it that she's alright one last time. Then I suppose I'll stick around a little while longer to see what becomes of Tyler." There was another snivel as she whispered, "I suppose, if we find he's… well, that he didn't make it, I'll make my way to where I'm meant to be now. God will reunite us. I know he will."

Fiver abruptly looked up. "Reunite you?"

That led to another tight smile and a dainty nod. "Yes, it's one of those funny little things that the Lord does, Fiver. Keep that in mind."

"I will," he promised.

Then Amanda closed her eyes. "Thank you, Fiver, for everything you've done. May Belle is so much… she's so much happier because of you. You've changed her life, you know."

"And she's changed mine."

The blonde woman nodded once more and smiled, laughing lightly. "Good luck Fiver, with everything to come."

"And you," he countered.

She smiled again. "The Lord be with you." With that, she began to fade, he body mixing in with the colors of the sunrise as she became little molecules of a disassembled whole—something impossible, something that shouldn't be—and blew away.

Fiver sucked in a breath as she dissipated before him, feeling his head pounding and blood surging. "And you."

**

The road was quiet, even a bit sleepy, as a car made it's way down, slowly as if trying to ease it's way over the ice that had formed. From out the right window peered a girl, her face hidden beneath a yellow hat embroidered with a triangle patter, a ruddy expensive gift from her uncle. She looked out over the snow-covered fields, wrinkling her freckled nose as she shivered, squeaking to her friend beside her, "Lucy, would you please turn up the heat, it's freezing."

Lucy laughed from the steering wheel, wearing only a pathetic shawl as an excuse for a coat. "City life made you fragile, is that it?"

She looked over, shoulder-length red hair falling out from beneath that hat as she shook her head fast. "I just can't imagine how you'd be comfortable in such bitter cold."

"Call me crazy, then," sighed Lucy. "You seem to complain an awful lot for what you've been through, especially to a friend you haven't seen for a blasted good four years."

That led to a giggle from both girls, and then a sigh, May Belle once again picking up a sad look, like she was remembering a long forgotten past. Lucy could sense this without even looking, and she, too, sighed. "It's just good to have you back, May Belle. I've missed you. We all have."

"How could I not come back home?"

Lucy shrugged, about to say something like, "Be bloody easy if I were you," but she held her tongue fast, shrinking back into her car seat and not offering an answer.

May Belle made a _Hmmph_ sound in her throat and looked out the window, recognizing where they were… or where they would very soon be, at least. Before she could stop herself, May Belle gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth.

"What?" asked Lucy, looking to her friend in confusion, but it didn't take the dark haired girl long to figure out what was bothering her friend without receiving any answer. Although the two girls had been separated all these years, they were able to keep connection through letters and occasional phone calls, and within a few weeks after May Belle's departure, Lucy knew everything that had happened. And she believed it.

May Belle shook her head, trying to expel her qualms without any uprisings. "No, Lucy, it's… it's nothing."

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid," ordered Lucy, pulling over the car so that she could pay full attention to May Belle. It whined a bit as she hit the breaks, but they obeyed as they always had.

"You should get them checked," commented the girl sitting shotgun, refusing to meet Lucy's glare.

"That's not what we're talking about."

"Are you sure?" countered May Belle from behind innocent blue eyes. Lucy looked into these eyes dangerously, a crease forming between her eyes from constant frowning with a frown so intent that May Belle had to sigh and drop her gaze, head drooping forward. "I'm sorry, Lucy… But I can't do it."

"You can't, can you?"

The girl chewed on her lower lip like it was a stick of cinnamon gum, shutting her eyes and taking deep… deep… relaxing breaths.

"No," she whispered. "It's been too long, Lucy. I'm afraid he'll be gone. Rabbits only live two to three years."

"Well not this rabbit," promised Lucy, kicking the car back to life and urging it forward. "No, this is your rabbit, and of course he's been waiting round for you." She giggled. "Who wouldn't?"

May Belle didn't say another word, which made Lucy a bit nervous, silence always putting her off for a bit jittery. She leaned forward a bit, telling the car to go faster, much to it's discontent. "Kevin'll be excited to see you when we get home," she muttered, trying to change the subject. "You made it just in time for the wedding, him and Trish make a lovely couple, they do."

"Trish?" asked May Belle, glad to have been pulled out of the deep water (_Deep water… of God_).

"Yeah. They been dating for three years. I never told you?"

"You just told me he was engaged," responded May Belle, turning to the window. "I thought you'd meant Candy."

"No, they broke up not too long after you left."

It dropped back into silence from there, May Belle sourly thinking, _It always goes back to that_. She offered a bitter smile to no one in particular. _We can't talk about anything without something about me leaving coming up._

As the car approached a bend in the road, Lucy reached for her handbag, but hit a pothole and ended up knocking it off the dashboard. "Shit," she murmured, bending down to feel for it along the floor.

"Lucy, I'll get it," the redhead beside her offered, but Lucy continued to search, one hand on the wheel and the car not slowing.

"No, I've almost—"

Then a shriek pierced the heavens as May Belle flinched. "Lucy!!!" And there was just enough time for Lucy Cane to sit up and widen her calf brown eyes, slamming her foot down hard on the break, but finding it to do no good before it came… A truck had sped round the bend, slamming head on into the little car, bashing it in entirely.

Lucy opened her eyes, which had suddenly become heavy, but the burning cold of the snow kept her awake. Red snow. She was bleeding out of a wound in her forehead; she felt the pain there. Nowhere else. Not yet. She was fine, she been knocked out of the car, but she was alive. Then she found the will to pull herself up (which kicked in a whole knew pain in her shoulder) and scream through a volley of tears that had snuck up on her. "May Belle!"

May Belle sat curled up as best she could, knees to her chest and head in her knees. Breathing. Shallowly breathing as she tried to move, but found scraps of metal pinning her in her spot, a few of them piercing her stomach. She was helpless, now, bleeding and crying with no little rabbit to save her. No Fiver here. No Fiver anymore…

A heavy weight on her chest prevented her from breathing as deep as she'd like, along with the merciless, icy panging of whatever it was that had lodged inside of her. _Ow_, was all she could think, as if this were a paper cut and not her life. Not her death.

And then it came: little voices from outside the car, traveling to her along the ground. "Did you hear that?"

"By Frith I did," came another. "What was that? Perhaps another war between hrududil?"

"Yes, I've heard of those, nasty beasts, they like to head straight on for each other and—oh! What's wrong with Threar?"

Then a smile—_a smile_—came across May Belle's face as she sat there, caught beneath the wreckage of a car crash and realizing where she was. Watership Down. The car had gone off the road and past the borderline to where the Down started. She was home. She was with her family. She was…

"I'm not dying," the girl finally decided from beneath her blood and one or two broken ribs. The deflated airbag before her stood as witness to her statement. "I won't die, I'm not giving up."

Silence. Sirens were in the distance, but a bit 'o ways away. Too far. Too long. How could they save her? How could she live up to her vow?

"I'm not going to die!" she swore once more. Nobody answered, which left her with only the darkness to sob to.

"Please," she gasped, begging as best she could. "Please, please, please, O Lord, I don't want to die." The weight atop her only seemed to feel heavier, which made the tears even stronger and her heartbeat even faster.

Then just like that, May Belle wasn't alone. As she crouched there, dying beneath the shrapnel of a wrecked car, thinking only of her life and how much it mattered to her, there was a soft nudge at her arm, a nuzzle from a warm, furry body, trying to calm her as she panicked. It whispered to her so calming and understandingly that she hushed, still gasping for air from beneath the pressure, but not longer crying. "F…Fiver?"

"Are you alright?" he asked, all sentimentalities aside. "Help is coming, May Belle, please hold on." Something was different about him. His voice, his touch, and even his presence had a strange vibe to it, like a cold spot that should not be. Never the less, he was here. He was with her.

She sniffed a little more, nuzzling close to her friend with hot tears forming in the back of her eyes. "Thank you so much."

"For what? I want to be here for you."

"No, Fiver. Thank you for… for still being here. For not moving on without me. I'm s-so sorry, Fiver. Right when I need you most, you're here for me. You're the sweetest."

"Thank you for coming back as well," whispered Fiver. "I've missed you. Now quiet, they're here to get you."

And indeed, May Belle could see the flashing lights spilling in from between cracks, and hear voices on the other side. As if on cue, someone called in to where she stay, "Can you hear me? Is anyone alive in there?"

May Belle blinked, taking a second to realize that he meant her. "Yes!" she finally answered back. "Can you get me out?"

Another flourish of voices from the outside world, a lot of what sounded like relief. The tone of her voice showed that she wasn't too badly injured.

"We're going to get you out. Just hold on."

"I'll hold on," May Belle whispered, which led to an encouraging nudge from aside her. At this, she turned her head just slightly, trying to look at Fiver, but it was almost impossible to find anything in the faint light. Finally, after looking hard, she detected them: two round, bright eyes that penetrated the darkness like a sword. Her sword. Her rabbit, the knight in shining armor that had come to save her. Fiver was hers. He always would be.

As the police worked to get the car cracked open without hurting the girl, May Belle closed her eyes, her consciousness shifting and thinning, and her breath growing calmer and steadier. "Why did you do it?" she breathed, and when she got no answer, May Belle smiled gently, asking again. "Why did you risk your life just to come in here for me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" responded the small voice, sounding farther away now, like just another echo in her head.

"I can think of a few good reasons."

There was a slight pause, Fiver hesitating on whether he should say why or not. The two stayed put there, listening to the progress outside for a good few minutes before he suddenly answered. "I have no life to risk anymore, May Belle."

May Belle's eyes popped open, and she flinched something awful, her mouth dropping open as she almost shrieked. "_What_!?"

Before there was any answer, before Fiver could say anything at all, the veil of darkness fell away and there was sunlight surrounding May Belle. Fiver was gone. She was alone once more. Gasping and crying and fussing up a storm, the workers were trying move her as steadily as possible, but May Belle wasn't up for that.

"Wait…_ Fiver_!" she said urgently as she was pulled out of the car, out of the danger zone and away from where he'd been. When she turned her head to look, though, Fiver was not there. Instead, in his place, was a shimmering, sparkling necklace. One that had not been in the car. One that May Belle hadn't seen for years. It was her mother's necklace. It was her other half.

"I won't leave him!" she was screaming. "Let me down, now! I need to…" another sob, and a crack in her voice. "I need to…"

And then, there it was: a pair of pale white arms wrapping around the girl, sobbing from behind her. She cried, too, turning back and hugging Lucy in return. "I've lost him Lucy," she said as well as she could, her injuries beginning to make her woozy. "I've lost him."

_"There is another sky,  
Ever serene and fair,  
And there is another sunshine,  
Though it be darkness there;  
Never mind faded forests, Lucy,  
Never mind silent fields -  
Here is a little forest,  
Whose leaf is ever green;  
Here is a brighter garden,  
Where not a frost has been;  
In its unfading flowers  
I hear the rabbit hum:  
Prithee, my sister,  
Onto my Down come!"_

**_The End._**

**XXX**

**I don't have too much to say as of now for this. I do believe I was up at 2 in the morning writing this, because when I writing buzz comes you have to follow it, and after extensive, if not obsessive, proofreading and work put into this, I can finally say I've finished my story, and it's no coincidence that it's completed exactly one year from the day it started. Anyways, for the poem at the very end, credits for that goes to Emily Dickinson. I tried ending it a different way, but after it just went on for like pages, I was like, "Okay… no, this is too long" ^_^ Please review, this is one of my stories I'm actually kind of happy with. Okay, thanks to everyone who's stuck around this long and reviewed! I don't think I could've done it with it reviews… Okay, bye!**


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